#I can get behind that reasoning. but they’ve hit a bit of a catch 22 at this point.

[amazingmaeve]

Neck kisses ━ p. parkinson

─ “i love it when you kiss my neck.”

summary ─ y/n loves it when pansy kisses her neck

request ─ a pansy smut requester with the numbers 22 27 29 please 🥺

warnings ─ smut (18+)

a/n ─ love writing for pansy!

word count ─

tags ─ @chokemepansy @faerabella @amourtentiaa @inglourious-imagines

Soft kisses flutter against Y/Ns shoulder as she stares at herself in the mirror. Her hands explore Y/Ns body as she leans her head against Pansys shoulder. Y/Ns breath hitches as Pansys hands trace the top of her skirt. This wasn’t how this started with tender touches; it was much worse.

“I love it when you kiss my neck,” Y/N remembers saying to the Slytherin girl who was too preoccupied sucking and kissing her neck.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to be for Y/N and Pansy. With Pansy being a pure blood with pure blood family who didn’t like muggles, which is what Y/N Y/L/N was. Pansy believed everything her parents told her, until she met Y/N. A bright witch the same age as her that made her heart flutter. Pansy didn’t know why she was feeling like that but she did.

Y/N and Pansy hated each other when they got to Hogwarts, with Pansy being friends with Draco and his little group and Y/N being friends with the golden trio. They despised each other so much that Y/N almost casted a hex on her in their third year when they were saying some crude comments about Harry.

“God I can’t believe how pathetic Potter is,” Y/N heard Pansy say loudly to his friends as she walked down the hallway. She tried her best to ignore them but they just kept getting louder and louder.

“Yeah and his mudblood friends along with the Weasley who looks like he can’t even afford the clothes on his back,” Malfoy smugly retorted looking at Y/N who’s temper just hit ten and felt like she was about to explode at the slytherins. They crossed the line when he mentioned her and Hermiones blood status.

“I know it's too bad those dementors didn’t take them away,” Pansy faked a dreamy sigh Y/N clenched her teeth walking over to the slytherins and took her wand out and pointed Malfoy but Pansy stepped in front of him. ���Are you gonna hex me,” She mockingly said.

“Don’t test me Parkinson,” Y/N hissed gripping her wand tighter but deep down she knew she wouldn’t do it and she knew she shouldn’t waste her time on them but they just make her so angry.

“Miss Y/L/N,” Professor McGonagall gasped out of shock at seeing one of her prime students about to hex one of her peers. “What is going on here,” She separated the two girls.

“She was gonna hex me,” Pansy faked a cry as crocodile tears cascaded down her cheeks. Professor McGonagall furrowed her eyebrows in confusion; she knew that Y/N wouldn’t have done this without reason but according to rules she had to be punished. Before Y/N could get a peep out McGonagall stopped her.

“Miss Y/L/N follow me,” McGonagall sternly said then walked away leaving Y/N to glare at the girl in anger before she swiftly followed behind the professor leaving smug slytherins.

That wasn’t their only fight. Over the years they kept making snide comments to each other which led to detention for both or one or the other, depending on the teacher. If it was Snape he would allow Pansy to walk off scott free and Y/N expected it with that teacher knowing he favored his own house.

The attraction towards Y/N didn’t start until their fifth year when she saw Y/N studying in the library. Butterflies erupted in Pansys stomach as she stared at the girl she detested for so long.

Pansy tried to shake that feeling off her since her parents would hate it if she got together with a muggle. But Pansy couldn’t stop staring at Y/N longingly as she studied in the library. The way that she bit her lip in concentration and she flipped the page and jotted notes down for the class. Pansy looked in awe but it soon turned to disgust as she thought the revolting things. She couldn’t like her. She spent these years hating her.

Y/N’s attraction towards Pansy started later that year (5th). She had just finished practice with Dumbledore's army and she caught Pansy looking at her. Once Pansy caught her a blush painted the cheeks of the girl who was starting which made Y/Ns stomach flutter. Why? Y/N thought to herself why is she feeling this way towards a girl she loathed for years.

It kept happening, Pansy staring at her and Y/N staring back which made Pansy look down in embarrassment.

“You’ll be doing this assignment in pairs,” Y/N heard Snape's cold voice which broke her concentration. Snape started to list off the pairs with his usual harsh tone. “.....Parkinson and Y/L/N,” Snape lists and Y/N’s head shot up when she heard her name being said. Of course it was with Parkinson. Once Snape stopped listing everyone went to their respective places while Y/N went to sit next to Pansy who had a sour look on her face.

“Don’t be so mad about it and let’s get this done and over with,” Y/N sneered a glare painted on her face as she got out her book and started to list some of the ingredients off while Pansy just rolled her eyes.

“Can’t believe I got paired with you,” Pansy muttered under her breath and even though under everything she knew that she was kind of happy to be working with Y/N but just didn’t want to admit it.

“You think I’m jumping for joy having to work with you,” Y/N says sarcasm dripping in her voice as she looks up to meet Pansys green eyes. “Because believe me I’d rather work with anyone but you,” She hissed.

For the first time in a while Pansy felt a pang in her heart. She knew she liked Y/N and hearing her say those words made her feel hurt. Like when she got in trouble for messing around with the golden trio but this made her feel even worse.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Pansy muttered her eyes focused on her paper as Y/N looked at her confused. It looked as if she had been sad but what would Parkinson be sad about, they’ve been squabbling ever since first year so why would this hurt her.

Over the next few days Pansy and Y/N have been meeting up for this project and Y/N felt like she was getting closer with the girl. They were joking around more often even though still making snide remarks. Y/N felt her heart race when she had to meet with Pansy.

Her friends often asked if she was okay working with Pansy and she always responded saying that she could handle her.

When the last sessions of them studying Y/N felt almost disappointment as almost though that she would miss working with Pansy. She met with Pansy at her dorm this time instead of her own. Everyone was gone at their classes or in the common room. But Y/N never got over the eerie feeling from the Slytherin common room.

She sat next to Pansy on her bed with green blankets as they finally had finished the assignment the Snape gave them.

“Finally,” Y/N yawned, stretching her arms, feeling her elbows crack. Pansy gave her a tight smile. Before a thought entered her mind this was the last she was going to see Y/N with nice formalities at least. So she decided to make the best out of this situation and lean in and kiss her.

The kiss surprised Y/N as she felt her kiss her, she didn’t respond at first which made Pansy retreat in disappointment but Y/N grabbed the back of her neck and gave her a kiss which surprised her. Of course Pansy kissed back as she put her hands on her hips tenderly massaging them.

The two of them caught for dominance as Pansy finally won and slipped her tongue to let it massage Y/N’s. Y/N moaned into her mouth feeling elated by this kiss. She has never kissed a girl and she has to say it's the best kiss of her life.

“Wow,” Pansy and Y/N said in unison shock going through their veins as they stared at each other with smiles. Pansy hid a smirk while Y/N shyly smiled. They both giggled and started to kiss each other again. That’s as far as it went for that a moment in time they just kissed.

Their first time was much more special.

Pansy and Y/N just kept sneaking around so nobody would catch them. Pansy stopped picking on Y/N and her friends but that didn’t stop Malfoy from doing it though. Even though on opposite sides of their friend group that didn’t stop the passionate moments between the two.

The first time was special to the both of them. It was one night where everyone went out to honeydukes leaving the two of them alone with a few wondering students who were minding their own business.

It was a magical night and after it all laid under the covers pleasured looks on their faces as they intertwined their hands smiles painting their lips. Y/N would never forget that night and neither would Pansy.

Which lead them to the almost the end of the year as they were cooped up in Pansys room where Y/N stood with Pansy behind her kissing her neck. Fingers tracing the hem of her skirt. A happy smile was draped onto Y/N’s as she enjoyed her touch. The tests this year were harder and which made her more stressed. So after every test was done Pansy and Y/N finally got some alone time.

“I just want to please you love,” Pansy whispered in Y/N’s ear making a shiver go down her spine as Pansys fingers finally seeped underneath the fabric of the skirt. Y/N was already soaking from all the teasing that Pansy had done and she smirked feeling her arousal.

“Can you feel what you’re doing to me,” Y/N whimpered as Pansy’s fingers began to circle her clothed clit. Pansy hummed feeling the wetness come in contact with her fingers. She trailed her fingers under the panties and began to softly circle the swollen nub.

Y/N moaned when Pansy made contact with the sensitive part. She hated the effect Pansy had on her. Pansy began to rub faster and faster as Y/N could feel her orgasmt about to approach.

But then abruptly Pansy stopped and removed her fingers from her panties bringing them to her own mouth sucking the juices off them.

“You taste so good love let me get a better one,” Pansy seductively smirked bringing herself to her knees pulling Y/Ns panties down and throwing them across the room and she smirked at Y/Ns shocked reaction. Pansy rubbed Y/Ns thighs soothingly as Y/N herself clench around nothing feeling herself get more aroused. “You ready princess,” She whispered letting her breath fan across her pussy. Her skirt was lifted so it covered Pansy’s head.

Once Pansy’s lips wrapped around the swollen nub Y/N moaned loudly grabbing the back of her head and pulling on her hair. She breathed and moaned loudly as Pansy kept sucking hard on her clit. She trailed her fingers to the inside of her thigh and circled her entrance as Y/N closed her eyes from the pleasure.

Pansy entered her fingers and curled them so they hit her g spot and Y/N almost lurched forward as her fingers came in contact with that spot. And all the while her lips still around the sensitive nub. But not for long as she released her lips and pushed her skirt higher so she could see Y/N’s reaction and what she was doing to her pussy. Y/N clenched around her fingers as she felt herself getting closer and closer.

Pansy kept thrusting her fingers in while her thumb made its way to her clit and began to massage the sensitive nerve.

“I’m gonna cum,” Y/N whined as Pansy rubbed her clit at the perfect pace while her fingers kept thrusting in harder and harder and still kept hitting her g spot.

“Cum all over my fingers like the dirty girl you are,” Pansy said with a smirk on her face while she kept thrust and removed her thumb and brought her lips back to her clit and began to suck as well. That’s all it took for Y/N to moan out Pansy’s name loudly and to see stars

Pansy lapped at her sensitive nerve as Y/N came down from her high. Y/N let out a happy sigh as she finally reached her high. Pansy kissed up her body and made her way towards her mouth.

She wrapped her hands around her cheek and leaned in and kissed. As Y/N kissed her she tasted herself on her lips which made her clench around nothing.

“Don’t worry love we’re not finished yet.”

[dynyamight]

bkdk … 12 ? ༼ つ ◕◡◕ ༽つ

12. “I think we need to talk."

The moment Bakugou opened the gym doors, and smelled rain in the air, he knew he had to book it back to the dorms.

Slamming his feet on the pavement floor, he forces himself to run out. His muscles ache all over, and his arms barely want to stay up, pumping at his side. But, he rather try and make his way to his room dry, than have a downpour soak him to his bones.

By the time he reaches to the safe, dry front steps of the dorm building, the rain finally begins. Lightly, the drops splatter slowly to the ground.

Catching his breath, Bakugou stops by the rails, holding onto one side as his muscles cramp. His thighs are burning, and his arms want to fall off entirely. But, he let's his mind focus on the pain.

He's had a rough fucking week, and for once, his mind was elsewhere.

“It’s starting to rain now, isn’t it.”

Bakugou jolts, quickly facing up to that familiar voice. That voice that haunts his dreams, ingrained deep into his mind. That voice that makes his heart race just a little quicker. That voice, from the one and only.

That forgetful nerd.

“Ah, sorry! I didn’t mean to spook you.’ Midoriya says quickly, offering an apologetic smile. He’s sitting on the front porch, holding onto a book close to his chest. “You probably thought you were the only one out here, right?”

“..You don’t have to apologize.” He breathes out. Despite the haywire of his nerves, exploding his insides, the words roll off his tongue easily. It's oddly the same phrase he's used each time they've met. "S'not like you personally screwed me over."

"Ah, my bad—"

"What did I just say."

“I—" Midoriya weakly chuckles, shaking his curls. "I guess I can't help it. I promise I won't forget.”

No matter how many times Bakugou hears that, it always sounds so genuine, so real. Rather than an empty promise. "I'll hold you to it, Deku." He mutters, regardless.

"What does that—" A light shines through Midoriya's gaze, and immediately he smiles. "Wait, you know what. I swear that's not the first time someone has said that to me. Deku."

Chills run down Bakugou’s spine. That's never happened. He's never slipped up. Fuck. “..Really?”

“Yeah, it sounds so familiar. But, I don’t remember exactly where I've heard it before.”

Both disappointment and relief flood his whole entire body. He doesn’t know what he would do if Midoriya would remember all his terrible attempts, though a part of him did yearn for recognition.

However, maybe it was for the best. Give them a fresh start, every time. Fucking hip hip hurray.

Hell, maybe this was the world's way of sending him all the karma that he has built up. It decided to pick the one person he deeply cares about, and make both of them suffer.

Bakugou looks back at the book Midoriya held, something in his mind reminding him about one of the first talks since the incident. “Is that Catch-22?” Bakugou asks, pointing it out.

It takes a moment for the question to visibly register through Midoriya's brain. But, when it does, Bakugou can tell by the way Midoriya’s eyes widen and the wide grin on his face that grows, “You've read it?”

“Nah, just heard about it. A lot.” He doesn’t need to explain himself further.

Leaving his seat off the bench, Midoriya rushes up to Bakugou’s face, eagerly leaning in. “I highly recommend it! It’s a literature masterpiece, the best of its genre!”

For a moment, Midoriya looks up to Bakugou’s gaze, eyes bright in interest. However, the next second, he looks away, with a feeble laugh as he scratches the side of his head nervously. “In my humble, personal opinion, of course..”

“What does it even mean?” Bakugou asks instead, holding tight to their conversation. He refuses to let it go for even a second. “Catch-22.”

“Oh. Uhh, the best way I can describe it,” Midoriya lifts his chin in thought. His gaze drifts up, as if he was wracking through his brain like it were a couple of shelves, “is that it's a dilemma from which someone cannot escape from, because of a set of contradictory rules.”

Bakugou scoffs. “Give an example. I’m too fucking tired to decipher whatever the fuck you just said.”

“Okay, okay!" Midoriya laughs, "It’s like job applications. How can you gain any experience for a job, unless you get a job that gives you experience?”

“Like, how in order to apply for a loan, you have to prove to the bank that you don’t need one?”

“Yes! Exactly that.”

“That shit has a name?”

“They’re hard to find, but even in everyday life, we can find ourselves in our own catch-22’s without realizing it! Isn’t that crazy? For all we know, life itself could be one!” Midoriya rambles, growing louder and louder, to the point Bakugou swears he can hear his voice echo.

Though, Bakugou doesn’t mind. This alone is possibly the most Midoriya has said to him, with all encounters combined.

Surprisingly, a blush forms over Midoriya’s cheeks. “I didn’t mean to babble on like that.”

“How do you get someone to remember you,” Bakugou starts, before he can stop himself from asking, “when they keep forgetting who you are every time?”

Midoriya stares.

Quickly, Bakugou coughs, “Ain't that a catch-22?”

For a small moment, all he can hear is the rain, pattering down the pavement around them. But, then, Midoriya hums, tilting his head, lips pursed. “Yeah, it most definitely is. Though, I've never heard of that one, before.”

"Yeah well," Bakugou shoves his sweating hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “That’s the fucking dumpster fire I’m in.”

“With all respect, does your person have medical reasons why they keep forgetting?” Midoriya asks slowly, immediate concern filling his expression.

“Not that I know of." Bakugou admits, "But, I wouldn’t put it past them. Or, they might be plain stupid.”

“That's rude!" However, the accusation sounds fairly weak, when Midoriya's chuckling.

He feels the corners of his lips upturning. "What's 'rude' is the damn bastard not remembering anything, other than random, trivial shit." Bakugou huffs. "Which changes, daily."

"And, you say nothing works? Not even telling them?"

"Yeah. 'Cause they'll fucking forget the next day."

"Have they ever wrote about you?”

Bakugou does a double take. When did Midoriya ever— “Wrote about me?”

Nodding, Midoriya gestures behind him, to the backpack beside the bench. “Personally, I've been using lots of sticky notes, planners, and journals to jot down things I need to remember.”

“Again, my memory's a bit distorted, so in order to tell my future self what I need to know, I write it out for me to read, the next day. Maybe that’ll work for your person?”

Writing. So that the next Midoriya can read it and remember. “..Would it work, if I wrote it?"

Midoriya furrows his brows. "I think it would be better if the person wrote it out for themselves. You know, so that it helps to jog their memory."

Suppressing the immediate heart drop he feels in the pit of his stomach, Bakugou exhales a big sigh. "There's a lot of shit the fucker needs to remember. His purpose. His quirk. His dream. Lots of important shit."

"Why not start with you?" Midoriya smiles, reassuringly. "They're bound to have a diary entry all about you."

Immediately, Bakugou's irked. "I ain't writing material."

"I think you are. Good writing material." Midoriya confesses, never letting that dopey, wobbly smile drop, "I don't know your name, but everything about you is unforgettable, to say the least. I bet even someone like me will recognize you next time."

But, you don't. Bakugou thinks, feeling the tug at his heart tighten, choking him from the inside. You never do.

From the pocket of his gym shorts, Bakugou starts feeling his phone vibrate, before it rings. Despite that, Midoriya's jump causes him to be just as startled.

Rubbing a hand to his neck, Midoriya weakly chuckles, "Sad. We were just starting to get to know each other."

Bakugou doesn't respond.

'ALL MIGHT.' The caller ID states in bold letters.

"I gotta go." Bakugou states firmly, holding tightly around his phone. "I need to take this call."

Midoriya's smile fades, but quickly it's picked up. "Yeah, no worries. I've probably been keeping you outside for too long."

Bakugou curtly nods, "You have."

And yet, even when the ringing persists, loudly telling him to walk away, leave, he stays. Because, Midoriya just looks like he doesn't want him to go.

He doesn't want to go, either.

"I never got your name." Midoriya mentions quietly.

Why would I give it, if you won't even remember?

Yet, that freckled, doey eyed face Midoriya's got never brings out the rationale, spiteful side of him out. Because, no matter how many times he has to say it, he'll do it again, and again. In a heartbeat.

"Just call me Kacchan."

Visibly, Midoriya's taken aback. Though, with the phone call on its last few rings, he finally steps off to the side, giving Bakugou space to walk.

"I'll see you around then," Midoriya waves off to him, "Kacchan."

A personal hell. Bakugou's living his personal hell.

When he walks inside the dorm building, the emotions suddenly hit him hard. Every day, he has to keep putting up with this crap.

Midoriya greeting him, talking to him, and saying goodbye, like a damn fucking stranger.

It kills him, eating away at his brain, knowing Midoriya's unable to look at him, and see nothing, but a stranger staring back.

When looking at Midoriya meant the world to him.

With a swift thumb swipe, Bakugou slides the phone call open. He clears his throat. "What now old man."

"I think we need to talk." All Might's voice crackles. "Privately. The sooner, the better. It's about the quirk that's been affecting young Midoriya."

His entire body tenses, halting him still. "..What about it.."

All Might sighs, long and tired. "The authorities found some intel about the culprit behind the memory loss. And, well.."

"Well, what?" Bakugou snaps.

"Midoriya's in deeper trouble, than we thought."

[starry-seongmin]

 “

#22 -  “For once I thought someone was actually interested in me”

#42 -  “S/he’s right behind me isn’t s/he?”

 non idol!au, highschool!au,

Songs I listened to: Baragi - Hyunjoon , Promise - EXO

a/n: I may have gotten carried away from how much I usually write.

Ni-ki was a shy boy. He wouldn’t express his emotions and feelings so openly and easily. There would definitely be times where he would let himself go and be an open book and sometimes he would bottle his feelings and thoughts until they exploded. He was a young boy and he had plenty of time to learn how to keep his emotions in check and express them and he was slowly getting there.

The older boys were very well aware of Ni-ki’s habits and were with him every step of the way to help him and keep him in line when he would just explode or bottle up too much.

Right now, Heeseung, Seon and Jaebeom were contemplating over Ni-ki’s recent mood swings. He was keeping something to himself and being all quiet and dismissive during certain conversations. “Did Sunoo do something?” Seon asked and Jaebeom was the first to answer. “Sunoo hasn’t done or said anything to him. He’s treading on eggshells around him these days” he said, ruling out the energetic boy being the reason behind Ni-ki’s sudden change in behavior.

Heeseung’s eyes fell on the said person, approaching their table accompnied by Daniel and Ta-ki. He nudged Seon and nodded towards the trio of boys. Jaebeom and Seon followed his gaze and sat up straight and started talking about a video game as if they weren’t discussing one of their younger friends.

Ta-ki greeted the older boys with a bright smile and sat down. Daniel followed suit and Ni-ki silently took a seat next to Jaebeom. “Hyung, are you gonna eat that?” Ni-ki asked, eyeing Seon’s remaining cookie, unaware of the fact that the others were throwing him cautious glances, deciphering his current mood. “No, you ca have it” Seon replied, placing the cookie on Ni-ki’s tray.

The younger gave him a grateful smile and dug in, finishing the cookie in two bites. The boys were secretly relieved that he seemed to be in a good mood and soon they all busied themselves in conversation and finishing their lunch.

In the middle of Ni-ki telling them about how Sunoo got himself in trouble and had to held during recess, he stiffened as he noticed you walking with your friends towards their table. His sudden stillness didn’t go unnoticed by the others. Following his gaze, they soon understood the reason behind Ni-ki’s lack of functioning. 

Exchanging knowing looks, Jaebeom waved you over to their table. Telling your friends that you’ll catch up with them later, you wave back and reach their table. “Hey guys” you chirp, a smile etched across your face. “What’s up?” 

It was exactly as the boys thought. Ni-ki’s gaze was lowered, focusing on his tray and fiddling with his food an his eyes darting towards you in between for a fleeting second. His ears were red and he was not pitching in the conversation the boys and you were having.

“Ni-ki, you okay there?” The boy’s head darted up at you addressing him suddenly. “Yeah..I am perfectly fine” he managed to reply, the heat creeping on to his cheeks, painting them a delicate pink. “You’re turning red, bub..you sure?” you asked again, placing the back of your hand against his forehead and then his cheek to check his temperature. 

Ni-ki swore his soul left his body and his heart jumped out and ran away as soon as your hand came in gentle contact with his skin. “You’re warm. I think you should go to the clinic just in case” you suggested, genuinely concerned for his health.  

The spectators watched the interaction between you two, engrossed in what was going on. What they suspected was so obvious now. Ni-ki had the biggest crush on you and he was trying his best to withhold his composure and not pass out and Daniel admitted he was doing it quite well because it appeared that you were absolutely oblivious of the effect you had on the poor boy who was currently the center of attention and borderline passed out.

“I promise I’m okay” Ni-ki replied and removed your hand away. The contact of his hand with yours sent warm rushes all over his body, heart hammering. You frowned but chose to believe him and nodded, low-key disappointed that he let go of your hand. 

“Okay, but if you feel weird you have to go and get yourself checked” you warned. “And it’s also your responsibility as his friends to look after him” you gave a pointed look at the audience of 5 boys who nodded, even managing to get a salute from Daniel and a “yes boss” from Jaebeom. 

Satisfied with their answer you nodded and subconsciously, as if your hands had a mind of their own, patted Ni-ki’s shoulder, “Alright then, I’ll see you guys later” you announced, glancing over them one last time. “Also, I almost forgot..” you turned to Ni-ki. “Your free style dance was amazing. I’m looking forward to your next performance” you complimented him with a shy smile and taking off.

Ni-ki stared at your retreating figure with a dazed look, as if in a trance, processing the compliment he received from you seconds ago. He was brought back to his senses when Seon coughed to get his attention. He turned his head to be met with knowing looks and smiles from the boys, knowing they were bursting with questions, teasing and comments. 

“Don’t” he warned, shooting a glare at them. “So...this explains your mood swings” Heeseung voiced the elephant in the room. “When are you gonna make a move?” Ta-ki asked the real question, leaning forward, eyes bright. “I won’t. Now you guys can shut up” he shot back, gently shoving Ta-ki’s face back. 

“If you’re afraid of being rejected and possibly ruining a friendship and not having the ability to show your face and quite possi-” Danel began only to be silenced by Seon’s glare. “What he means is...if you’re afraid of being rejected and ruining a friendship, you won’t because as it was obvious with you being totally head over heels for Y/N, Y/N was also obvious of having a crush on you” Seon explained in hopes to encourage the younger boy to confess to you.

“I don’t know...Y/N hasn’t exactly given any sign of being interested in me” he voiced out, trying to recall anything you said or had done to give him a green light. The boys sighed and Seon even rubbed his face. “Your entire interaction is enough proof?” he pointed out, hoping Ni-ki would understand. However, the blank face from the boy said otherwise. “Let’s see...” Heeseung began with a ‘thinking’ look. “Y/N kept physical contact with you just now, from checking your temperature to patting your shoulder and resting their hand” he recalled. 

“Y/N was also quite concerned about you having a temperature and feeling unwell and was adamant about you getting yourself checked and even made us promise to look after you” Jaebeom continued.

“Let’s not forget complimenting you on your last class’ performance...Heeseung hyung also takes that class and so does Ta-ki. Were they mentioned? No. Only you and they even said they looked forward to your next performance” Daniel added.

“Y/N had their eyes on you most times if not all the time. They even smiled at you in a way they don’t smile at anyone else... they had this soft gaze which is only reserved for you” Seon finished, a complacent smile on his face. 

“You guys think so?” Ni-ki asked, getting a sliver of hope and boost of confidence to profess his feelings to you. “We know so” Ta-ki confidently replied, face stuffed with his sandwich. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot...after school” he promised himself, feeling a bit better thanks to the support his friends gave him. 

[After school]

True to his words, Ni-ki made his way to your locker after extra-curricular activities before chickening around. Just as he turned round the corner, he was met with a scene he was not prepared for. You were standing at your locker with someone else, receiving a small bouquet of flowers. He quickly hid behind the wall, not knowing how he felt. He peeked to see you smiling at the person. He couldn’t hear what you were saying and he decided that he didn’t want to.

His heart was thumping loudly and he was pretty sure that it was echoing through out the school hallway. Feeling dejected and miserable, he walked away, to where his friends were waiting for some kind of update from him. Slipping your favorite snack back in to his bag, he reached the school gate where his friends stood.

Jaeho was the first to notice Ni-ki walking slowly, head down. Pointing it out to the others, the atmosphere changed from lively to heavy as one by one it hit them that Ni-ki didn’t come bearing good news. They shared confused and worried looks, feeling guilty for accidentally giving him false hope when they themselves were sure that his feelings were reciprocated.

He reached them and smiled sadly at them, shaking his head. No one had the heart to say anything. “Someone already beat me to it” he shrugged, playing off as it didn’t matter to him but he was only convincing himself as no one believed his facade.

“What do you mean someone beat you to it?” Jimin asked, putting an arm around his shoulder. “When I rounded the corner to their locker, they were smiling and had accepted flowers by someone else”, he replied. “I can’t believe that I actually had hope..” he murmured, resting his head on Jimin’s shoulder, as the older boy ran his hand through his hair to comfort him.  “For once I thought someone was actually interested in me”

The boys exchanged looks, not really knowing what to say to make him feel better. “Hey, I know it’s easier said than done but forget about it, maybe you guys are better off as friends” Jake spoke up. 

ni-ki only shook his head. “It’s not easy..” he admitted quietly. “I don’t think I’ll  be okay. Everything seems different when I fell for Y/N. I couldn’t help my feelings then and I can’t help them now. They’ve already grown” his eyes were sad and obvious he was hurting. “I don’t want to feel like this” he groaned.

“Hyung, I think you should l-” Daniel was cut off by a wave of Ni-ki’s hand. “I’ll be okay soon, hopefully...I just need to avoid Y/N for a while until I’m able to control my feelings” 

“Okay but I think you shou-” Youngbin tried to talk only to be interrupted by the younger boy again. “I know, I know...to be expressive and share my feelings with you guys, I know” he dismissed. 

Not receiving any response from the boys felt strange. It was only when he realized they were not looking at him but rather behind him did he feel a sinking feel. Hoping it wasn’t what he was thinking he sighed, dreading the obvious answer. “They’re right behind me aren’t they?”

The apologetic looks from the boys was enough to confirm his fear. “Uhh, can you guys excuse us for a moment, please?” you timidly asked. The boys nodded and with a chorus of “see you later”, they dispersed. 

You stepped down and stood next to Ni-ki who was avoiding eye contact. The both of you stood there, awkward. You wanted to talk to him about what he said earlier and you even requested the boys to give you privacy yet you had no idea what to say nor how to start the conversation with him.

“So...” you started, “You heard me being all melodramatic over you not reciprocating my feelings” he spoke up, getting straight to the point no matter how desperately he wanted to run away and never face humanity again.

“How much did you see? The flowers and everything?” you asked. “Just you receiving the flowers and being happy. I saw you guys talking but I couldn’t hear what you were saying.” he replied, scratching the back of his neck.

“Ahh..that makes everything easier” you whispered to yourself. You smiled at him and placed your hand on his shoulder. The stiffness from didn’t go unnoticed by you. “Relax..it’s not what you think” you said. “Yes, I was given flowers and yes I accepted them and yes I was smiling and talking” you explained. “But, the flowers weren’t for me. They’re actually for Mrs. Kwon. Our class collected money to buy her flowers as a token of congratulations for being promoted to Head of the Science Department. As the class president, it was my duty to give it to her on behalf of my class.” you finished.

Realization dawned on him as everything was put in to place. “Well, this is embarrassing...” he chuckled shyly. “You still have time, you know?” you spoke up, trying not to smile. He gave you a confused look, not getting your hint. 

“To express your feelings?” you weren’t able to hide the excitement. feeling all giddy at the thought of finally being confessed to by the guy you had been crushing on since the past year.

“Well...” he started, pausing in between to take out the snacks he got for you. “You’re already aware of how I feel about you so all I’m gonna say is that even if we are quite young, you’re the one I want and if you feel that I’m the one you want then please accept my feelings because you deserve the world and i’m willing to try my best to give you just that” he softly voiced the words he was dying to say.

You smiled and accepted the snacks, your eyes and smile brighter than ever. “I’d love to..I’ve been waiting for this moment myself” you admitted. Ni-ki laughed, light hearted and ecstatic that he finally could hold your hands and you just how he dreamed.

[straykidsupdate]

Stray Kids & Their Fans Are Growing Up Together

Adulthood has its side effects.

Strobe lights flash like firing synapses; Synths wobble and throb like a pounding headache. “머리 아프다!” — my head hurts — yell the members in Korean, pounding their fists erratically in different directions in the air. Stray Kids dance over the EDM-trance beat as a stern voice recites a string of aliments: “Common side effects include: nervousness, insomnia, nausea, agitation, anxiety, sweating, vision problems, numbness, psychosis, dizziness, headaches, weight loss.” 

From the crowd of nearly 5,600 in New York’s Hulu Theater, the refrain to “Side Effects” rang out passionately from the K-pop group’s diverse fanbase, called Stay, caught somewhere between a battle cry and a cry for help. Stray Kids know that this feeling they’re communicating with “Side Effects” — one of disorientation, fear, and confusion that goes hand-in-hand with growing up — is one they share with Stay. After all, that’s what makes Stray Kids (who range in age from 19 to 22) so beloved by their passionate fans — they write and compose straight from their own experiences, painting a vivid picture of the feelings that young people share all over the world. And now, for everyone gathered in this dark theater, singing together is a catharsis.

Since their debut with JYP Entertainment nearly two years ago, Stray Kids’ discography has weaved a narrative that serves as an allegory for the joys and pains of coming of age. They begin as prisoners in the fictional dystopia of “District 9,” but even after making their escape, they must enter a labyrinth to face internal battles as they question their identities and their goals throughout each three-part I Am…  and Clé EP series. 

“In Clé 1: Miroh, we went into the maze really confidently,” Stray Kids’ animated Austrailian-Korean leader Bang Chan tells Refinery29 in our office ahead of their New York City tour stop. Even in more serious moments, the 22-year-old rapper and one-third of Stray Kids’ producing unit, 3RACHA, holds a warmth and playfulness in his eyes. “And then after that, in Clé: Yellow Wood, we asked ourselves, ‘Was this the right decision? Do we have regrets? Did we choose the right way?’ ‘Double Knot’ [off of Clé: Levanter] was where we said, ‘We're going to keep on doing what we're doing. We'll just keep going.’ But then with [our most recent single] ‘Levanter,’ we stress how you can't always just really focus too much on one goal. Maybe you might need to take a break to see the other options.”

There’s a certain rebelliousness that seems to run through Stray Kids’ music — if they’re not fighting against a higher power, then they’re warring with themselves. But rapper Changbin, another 3RACHA member along with rapper and vocalist Han, is clear that their mentality isn’t “us against the world.” 

“There's not this big, crazy thing that we’re fighting against, right?” says Changbin, the chains on his shirt clinking together as he gesticulates. Changbin’s duality on and offstage is one of the most pronounced in the group — though he’s not the youngest, he’s known affectionately as the “baby” by his members. Catch him performing, however, and he turns into a growling menace as he spits bars.

“But just like in daily life, there are things that you're facing — issues, or roadblocks when you're on your way to a dream and things that you want to do in life. The theme of our music is that we want to overcome that together.”

Hyunjin, a striking rapper and dancer beloved by fans for his emotional intelligence, lays out what he feels people his age today feel they are most often up against: “There are two types of people. One is somebody who doesn't really know exactly what they want to do with their life. They don't really have a dream, so they're trying to find themselves and decide what they want to do. And then there are people who do have a particular goal or dream, and they're trying to wrestle with how exactly they’re going to achieve it.”

It’s not simply that Hyunjin and the seven other members of Stray Kids (a ninth, Woojin, left the company suddenly late last year for unknown reasons) are guessing what’s on Stay’s mind — they know firsthand, thanks to their uniquely close relationship that they’ve taken care to nurture over the past two years in a few ways. The first, and in many ways the most important, is by connecting through their music, which they’ve self-produced even before they officially debuted as a group. This creative license allows them to speak directly to their fans and reveal themselves  in a truly authentic way. It is also the reason why Stray Kids’ music — often a creative mix of EDM, rap, and rock —  sounds so distinctive in the K-pop landscape, and even beyond Korea’s borders. “All eight of us have different preferences and tastes in music, so we can each bring a different color to the music we make,” says Changbin. “It lets our music be more diverse and it allows us to try new things.” 

They acknowledge that there’s a tension between wanting to take risks in your music and needing to make a chart-smashing hit, which is something that despite their overall success, the group has yet to achieve. But the goal is to always try to push boundaries, and not sacrifice their integrity. 

You don’t usually see this kind of adventurous spirit in a newer group: usually, musicians start by imitating what they know and love. In Stray Kids’ case, that could’ve meant reflecting artists who Stay likely also share passion for: A bit of Ed Sheeran (courtesy of Bang Chan), Ariana Grande (Changbin), or maybe even Day6 (Seungmin). But they resisted the urge to copy, and instead created their own signature style. “Even if it might be a bit weird, I think we all really enjoy that, because it really excites us to try new things,” says Bang Chan, dimples punctuating his broad grin.

"I feel like our fans are really just close friends, to the point where they’re like family" - Stray Kids’ Bang Chan

Beyond music, they also communicate with Stay directly. The members share their thoughts in short video series such as Two Kids Room and One Kid’s Room, behind-the-scenes vlogs about their travels on tour, and often take time to talk to fans on VLive, a live-streaming app popular with K-pop idols. But they take it a step further: Bang Chan goes live once a month (it used to be once a week) in a segment he calls “Chan’s Room,” where he shares updates about his life, what’s been on his mind, and music recommendations. Hyunjin started a series called “Hyunjin’s Counseling Center,” where he addresses both his and Stay’s various inner thoughts and feelings, as well as give advice.

“I feel like our fans are really just close friends, to the point where they’re like family,” says Bang Chan. “I love spending quality time and just being like, ‘I'm doing this. I'm thinking about this these days. I want to show you guys this. I got my ukulele and am going to play something for you guys.’ I think the whole live system is really great because it makes us feel so close. It just tightens the relationship.”

“I think the best way for Stay to take care of themselves is to stay healthy and eat a lot of delicious food and listen to our music,” adds the affable and dynamic vocalist Seungmin, “so this is a way we check in and help them with that.”

It’s a beautiful symbiotic relationship. While fans certainly benefit from Stray Kids’ care, the artists readily admit that they’ve learned a lot about themselves since becoming idols and gaining fans.

“People think that it’s weird to be a celebrity if you’re an introvert,” says blonde Han, who opted for a seat in the center of the half circle, though a bit behind his bandmates. On stage and with his members, his charisma and sense of humor know no bounds, but the sole MBTI-certified introvert of the group usually takes a while to get comfortable in new environments. “I usually keep to myself, but when I’m on stage with the other Stray Kids members, I find this courage and strength that I didn’t even know I had,” he says, a smile widening on his face as he compliments the others in the room. “I get strength from my fellow members and the enthusiasm and energy of the fans, so that I can be confident and not come off as too introverted.”

“The feedback from fans has helped us grow so much,” says Australia-born dancer Felix, whose deep voice and shock of red hair counterbalance his lithe stature. His deep sincerity and good nature ratidate as he speaks. “We're always trying to show better work. So using all this direct feedback, I do try to improve as an artist and as... I guess it helps me try to be a better person in general.”

I.N., the youngest, self-proclaimed fox-faced vocalist of the group, as well as passionate dancer and cat-lover Lee Know, have both been more motivated to stick to their goals thanks to fans. I.N. explains his lack of willpower using cool slang (“작심삼일”) that stumps even the interpreter. “Basically I give up on things within three days,” he says. “I’ve been trying to overcome that.” For Lee Know, it’s a bit more simple: “I want to bulk up. So, consistency is so important. Stay are good at keeping us accountable.”

Hyunjin, ever-contemplative, sees the growth he’s gained from being an idol with fans as more introspective. “I’ve experienced a lot of feelings and emotions I didn’t have when I was a trainee,” says Hyunjin. “Being a celebrity or an idol, you're in the public eye and you're one person who is constantly interacting with and meeting many, many people. While talking to so many fans, I started realizing how much impact the words of a few people can have on a large number of people. It made me more thoughtful of what I say and I feel more responsibility for our music and performances. I want to do my best because of my fans. I feel that it’s made me grow into a more mature person.” 

And while that seems like a lot of pressure to put on a 19-year-old, he maintains that he sees it as a responsibility he’s more than happy to take on. “I don’t really see it as a burden because the way I see it, you could say just one little thing, but that could really make a person's day or really change their mind for the better.”

[writingformadderton]

Being A Brat

Pairing: Madderton

Word Count: 4104

Summary: Taron has been touchy feel all day and Richard can’t seem to understand why. Well, as they go about their usual errands for the day, Taron’s jealousy gets the better of him and he makes a fool of himself and Rich in the process. Needless to say, Rich is not happy and Taron is in for a punishment....

Additional Tags: Slight BDSM, Sir kink, spanking, orgasm denial, some aftercare in the end. Please enjoy :)

A/N: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO THE LOVELY ANON WHO REQUESTED THIS FOR THEIR BIRTHDAY (APRIL 22!!!) WE LOVE YOU BABYCAKES!!! SMUT!!! (This is the filth I’ve been needing this entire quarantine and I can’t wait to make more :))

----

It started this morning. Taron woke Richard up with neck kisses and teasing fingers going where they shouldn’t be. But he left Richard hard and horny, a childish giggle leaving his lips when he went to get ready for the day. Richard huffed and took a cold shower to take care of his “problem”.

Then while eating breakfast, Taron made some sneaky remarks to Richard about their activities a few nights ago and how eager he was to repeat that night. Richard tried his hardest to ignore the comments, occupying himself with his coffee and changing the subject. But Taron wouldn’t let up and even touched him underneath the table. He loved watching Rich squirm and try to not get turned on. The effect he had on his husband made him smirk. It continued in the car as they ran errands throughout the day.

But then, he took it too far. In the grocery store, Richard was casually talking to one of the workers who happened to be an old friend. Their conversation just a quick catch-up with some jokes, nothing serious. But Taron didn’t like the attention this store worker was receiving from his husband. His needy attitude turned into a territorial one and he was getting more upset with each passing second. So, he went over and rudely interrupted their conversation, giving the store worker a very nasty attitude. Richard was pissed, his friend had never seen him in such a state. His words to Taron were stern and his glare could burn holes into the body. Richard apologized to his friend and excused themselves, pulling Taron and their groceries to the cashier so they could leave as quickly as possible.

At first, Taron didn’t care about Rich being upset. His jealousy had clouded his judgment and he couldn’t stand to see his lover being so attentive towards someone else when he was literally sitting there begging for attention. Richard calmed enough to exchange a few words with the cashier and pay for their things, as if nothing happened. Making their way to the car, Richard loaded it up while Taron got inside and crossed his arms over his chest and looked out the window, a huff leaving his lips. Richard got in the car and started to drive their route home, silently fuming over Taron’s behavior.

After a few minutes of silence, Taron looked at his husband and sighed. He placed his hand on his thigh, but Rich quickly moved it and sternly said “Don’t”. Taron was taken aback by his demeanor and pulled his hand away. He started to apologize, but Rich immediately shut him down. “I don’t wanna hear it Taron. You embarrassed us in the store for no reason! You’re lucky I didn’t leave you there.” He spit out furiously. That stung Taron and he decided not to say anything for the remainder of the ride. Maybe he’ll calm down by the time they get home.

Or not. Definitely not.

-----------------------------------------------

Richard unlocks the door and walks inside their home, making his way into the kitchen and placing the bags on the counter. Taron walks in behind him, his bottom lip tugged between his teeth. After the grocery store incident, Rich was fuming and Taron could tell just by watching the way he moved. He was putting away the contents of their bags rather calmly, but his chest rose and fell with an aggression Taron almost never sees and his nostrils flared. Taron was in deep shit.

“Richie, I’m sorry abo-“ He began to speak nervously, barely audible to the rustle of the bags. But his lover stops in his tracks at the sound of his voice and glares at him, the soup can securely in his grip.

“Don’t! I do not want to hear another word from you, Taron.” Rich spits out, Taron flinching just slightly. “You were unnecessarily rude to the people in that store and have been a pain in my ass all day.” He continues with putting away the remainder of the groceries while Taron stands in front of the island with his head down, like a child being scolded by their mother. “What has gotten into you?”

“I don’t know, I jus-“

“Speak up!” Rich leans against the counter and crosses his arms over his chest.

Taron gulps and feel his hands becoming sweaty. Oh shit. “I don’t know. I just got really territorial.” He pressed out and shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously.

“You decided to be a brat, is that it?” The Scottish asks sternly and growls lowly, waiting for an answer. Taron had been touchy and needy all day and Rich didn’t pay much attention to it until the store incident. But now, it clicked. And Taron was going to be punished for it.

Taron slowly looks up from the floor and at his husband, and he silently savored it. Although Richard was mad at him for his behavior, he still managed to look so sexy. The way the veins popped in his arms and his eyes were a darker shade made his heart jump. But all that aside, he knew he was still in deep shit.

Rich notices him staring and sighs, pushing himself away from the counter and coming towards the Welsh slowly. Taron tenses a bit and watches his movements, slowly turning and backing away, “Answer me, Taron.”

“Y-Yes, I was being a b-brat.” He stuttered out as he continued backing up. Richard grabbed his arm and pulled him close. Taron squeaked and looked directly into his lover’s eyes, his heart beating wildly in his chest.

Rich grins and wraps his arm around his waist while his other hand gently glides up his body. Taron tenses in his arms after feeling both movements. His lover’s hand ghosts over his arm to his collarbone. Once it reaches his face, he caresses his face lovingly, but the fire in his eyes contrasted the gentle movement. “You know you’re in trouble, right?” He says lowly.

Gulping, Taron opens his mouth to speak, but no sound follows. He licks his lips and gives Rich his best puppy eyes. “Baby, I really am sorry. I just wanted you so bad.” He explains, a slight whine in his tone. By the look in Rich’s eyes, his punishment won’t be pretty. But he was going to try his best to get out of it.

Rich leans down a bit and his lips are dangerously close to his ear. “Oh you still do. I can feel you on my thigh.” He whispers in his ear and a shiver shoots through Taron’s body. With a smirk, he bites softly on his ear. Taron’s eyes flutter closed and he bites his lip to stop a moan from coming up. The hand that was caressing his face makes its way down to his neck and wraps itself around his throat. Rich pulls back and looks down at his lover.

Taron’s eyes open and he blushes at the placement of the older man’s hand.

“This is what you wanted?” He asks him with a raised eyebrow.

Taron nods and swallows.

“Use your words, baby boy.”

“Yes sir, this is what I wanted.” He speaks out.

“Well this was the wrong way to get it. You’ll be begging and crying by the time I’m done with you.” Rich promises and grins when he hears the whimper leave Taron’s chest. He guides Taron out of the kitchen and into the living room, releasing him to sit on the sofa. He unbuttons his jeans and pulls them down a bit, along with his boxers. With a satisfied smirk on his face, he pulls Taron down to lay across his lap and traps him underneath one of his legs.

“Sir please, go easy on me. I promise I’ll be good from now on.” Taron begins to plead, but the dark chuckle his husband let out was a sign that he was going to have to try harder.

“Baby boy, we are past that. You are going to get everything you deserve.” Rich’s voice drops a few octaves as he rubs a hand over his ass. “And we’re gonna start with a spanking.” He delivers a quick slap to one of his cheeks and the Welsh gasps out.

“Yes sir.” He speaks and closes his eyes. He tries to prepare himself for the next blow as Rich rubs his ass. But it wasn’t enough as he gave another and another and another. Taron cries out with each hit, but the sting brings him pleasure. It makes his cock stir underneath him and he was trying to hold out on getting turned on. ”Fuck.” He barely breathes out.

Richard gives him two more slaps and Taron’s ass was begging to redden at the force. He bites his lip at the sight. The way Taron writhes around in his lap with each hit was making him hard. And he wasn’t the only one getting turned on. Though this isn’t the first time they’ve done this, this is the first time Rich had to really punish Taron and it was stirring up an excitement in both of them that isn’t going unnoticed. Rich rubs his ass and looks down at his lover’s body. “Three more.” He states and the younger man nods and closes his eyes.

The first two came quick and caused Taron to moan and squirm in Richard’s grip. His sounds making Rich needy for more. He rubbed his ass tenderly to relax him, but Taron tenses and holds his breath in preparation for the last one. Rich grins and waits just a few more seconds before delivering the last, forceful hit to his ass. Taron flinches and cries out loudly. He breathes quickly to try and calm his racing heart.

Rich continues to rub his ass tenderly. “You did really good, baby boy.” He assures him sweetly and helps him sit up. Wincing, Taron looks at him and his eyes are glassy. Richard holds his face in his hands and softly kisses his lips to calm him down. Taron relaxes instantly into the kiss and their lips mold together effortlessly. Though it was a punishment, Richard wanted to make sure Taron was okay throughout the entire time. He didn’t want to push his baby too far.

Taron was loving the affection Rich was giving him. But he was hard and needed his touch. “Is my punishment over, sir?” He asks softly and gives him pleading eyes. The Scott grins and shakes his head, forcing a small groan from Taron’s throat.

“We are far from done.” He whispers and roughly kisses his lover. Taron sinks into the kiss and whines a bit. Rich pulls him onto his lap so he is straddling him and deepens the kiss. Taron moves his hands underneath his shirt and pulls it up and off him, breaking the kiss for just a moment.

Richard’s hands wander all over his body. The passion in their veins controlling their movements. He bites the younger man’s lip and smirks at the moan that follows. While he’s distracted, Rich moves a hand in between them and wraps his fingers around Taron’s cock. The Welsh gasps and his eyes flutter closed. “Oh shit.” He moans out.

Rich kisses his neck and bites down as his hand speeds up. Taron begins to thrust into his hand, needing a bit more friction for his aching cock. Rich notices and twists his hand, grinning at how greedy his lover is becoming. “Someone is needy.” He teases and watches him.

“I need you, sir. So fucking bad.” Taron whines and leans forward to grip the couch behind Rich’s head. His thrusts are getting faster and sloppy. The precum leaking from the tip of his cock is being coated all over his with each twist of Rich’s hand. He was like putty in the Scott’s hands and it was such a beautiful sight.

“How bad, baby boy? Are you about to cum?” Rich whispers into his neck and sucks a mark onto his skin.

Taron whines and nods. “Yes sir, I’m getting close.”

Rich smirks and picks up the speed. Taron groans loudly and kisses him passionately. It was full of need and desire, as if it was suffocating the both of them. But Richard was determined to have the upper hand the entire time.

Taron’s hips buck, signaling he was very close. Rich gave him a few more pumps before stopping and removing his hand. Taron instantly whimpers loudly and opens his eyes. “What the fuck? I was close.” He pouts at the shit eating grin on Richard’s face.

Rich slaps his ass hard. “You will cum when I say so.” He reminds him sternly. Grabbing Taron’s waist, he stands up and holds him tight, his husband’s thigh clinging tightly around him. Richard walks them upstairs, whispering to Taron what he was going to do to him and the Welsh’s eyes widening with a gulp. Once in their bedroom, Rich shuts the door and walks over to their bed, laying Taron down a bit forcefully.

He grins down at him and takes his clothes off. Taron sits up on his elbows and watches, biting his lip. He could never get enough of his husband. He was effortlessly sexy and he knew it. And he never gave Taron even a minute to forget it. Once fully naked, Rich reaches into the bedside table and grabs the warming lube. “Strip, now.” He demands and walks over to their dresser, pulling out a few more things.

Taron wastes no time in getting rid of his clothes, peering over at Rich to see what he was doing at the dresser.

“Sit on the edge of the bed.” Rich speaks again and closes the drawer he was fumbling in.

His husband does as he’s told and anxiously waits for what’s to come. Richard turns around and makes his way over to him. He lays out the items on the bed and Taron’s eyes widen.

A cock ring and three of their ties lay beside him.

He looks up at Rich and pleads silently with his eyes, his lips forming a pout.

“Don’t give me that look. This is what you deserve after being a little shit today.” Rich glares at him and picks up the cock ring first. Taron watches him play with it in his hands and backs up a bit. He knew that if Rich put that on him, it would end up messy. But Rich shoots him a glare and a low growl, and Taron stops moving.

He slides the cock ring on, securing it around the base of his cock and balls. Taron moans lowly at the feeling. He was close to cumming and this was going to stop him from doing just that, for as long as Rich wanted. He looked into his lover’s eyes and seen a fire in them. All he could do now was take his punishment.

“Lay down up by the headboard.” Rich instructs him and crawls on the bed. Taron backs up until his back hits the headboard and adjusts a bit to lay down. Grabbing the ties, Richard ties each of Taron’s hands to the bedframe and covers his mouth with the remaining tie. He caresses his face and grins. “I can’t wait to see you all fucked out.” He whispers.

Taron whines and pulls a bit on the ties, though it’s no use.

Rich chuckles and grabs the lube to cover his cock in it, as well as Taron’s. The younger man tenses at the feel of Rich’s hand on his cock. Rich slowly pumps his cock, feeling it swell with each passing second and his husband moaning sweetly. He takes his moment to push into his husband, a loud gasp leaving both of their lips.

Taron speaks, but its muffled by the tie. “What was that love?” Rich swipes his thumb over the tip of his cock and grins. Taron’s eyes flutter and he squirms against his cock. “Would you like me to move?” He raises his eyebrows. He nods fast and groans. “Suit yourself.” Rich teased.

He pulls out of him just enough and slams back into him. A loud squeal leaves the Welsh’s mouth at the force and his eyes roll to the back of his head. Rich begins to pound into him as his hand works on his cock. The timing between the two is perfect and Taron is writhing beneath him, looking just as delicious as ever. His moans, though slightly muffled by the tie, are still music to Richard’s ears and makes him want more. He grabs his thigh with his free hand and wraps it around his waist, changing the angle just a bit to go faster.

Taron groans loudly and pulls on the ties, needing to reach out and touch his husband. But his efforts are useless and instead, he grips onto them tightly as he feels Richard digger deeper into him. “Fuck!” He yells out as best as he can, his eyes closing.

Rich had sped up his hand in tune with his thrusts and watches as his husband’s aching cock swells along with his balls. The tip was an angry red from the restriction. Taron’s body was becoming sweaty and sensitive. The cock ring was tight enough to stop him from cumming and you could tell the effect it had on Taron. He could only take the punishment and say Richard’s name over and over again like a prayer.

“Fuck, you look so fucking good like this, baby boy.” Richard pants out as he fucks him faster, squeezing his fingers around his cock. Taron’s eyes began to water and he let out a long whine. He could barely take it. His balls were almost ready to explode and his cock was painfully hard.

“Please sir!” He almost screams through the tie. Rich groans and pulls out, flipping him onto his stomach and putting his ass in the air. The Welsh took this time to breathe, but Rich soon filled him up again. He lets out a pained moan and tears began to fall from his eyes.

Rich picked up his fast pace and slaps his ass roughly. Taron grabbed the ties as tightly as he could, enjoying the sting on his ass as it distracted him from his aching cock. The Scott moaned and gripped his hips harshly, pounding him into the mattress. He was letting all his pent-up anger out on the younger man, teaching him the lesson he deserved. He will think twice before even attempting to pull his little stunt from earlier again.

“Sir! Oh fuck!” Taron manages to cry out in between his moans. Richard leans over him and bites his ear just right, making the younger man gasp. He moves the tie from around his mouth so he could speak, but kept his same fast pace. Taron’s body began to tremble and he couldn’t take it anymore. “Sir please! It hurts!” He whines. Tears were rolling down his cheeks at the overwhelming pleasure and pain mix.

“It hurts?” He grins. “Do you need to cum baby boy?”

“Yes yes please!” He begins to beg. “I really need to cum. I can’t hold it anymore!”

“Will you pull be a brat again? Am I gonna have to punish you again?” He asks and leans up, slapping his ass a few times, hard.

“No! No I swear! I’m sorry! I won’t be a brat anymore!” He pleads with his husband. “Oh fuck yes!” He could hear his voice becoming raspy and crack from the tears now falling down his face. The pleasure was too much for Taron to handle and Rich was ready to cum.

“You better fucking not, Taron.” He growls and slaps his ass once more before slowing down. Reaching underneath him, he slides the cock ring off and Taron releases a deep sigh. Richard returns to his original pace and tangles one hand in Taron’s hair while the other gripped his waist.

“Yesss, oh fuck! Right there!” Taron pants out and lays his head on the pillows underneath him. He was about to burst in a few more thrusts. “Sir, please let me cum! I swear I’ll behave!” He cries out again.

“Cum!” Richard urges as he feels his own cock beg for release. Taron shouts his name as he cums hard on the sheets. His body shakes as hot ropes of cum shoot from his cock. Richard gives a few more sloppy thrusts before he stills and cums inside Taron. He growls at the feeling and grips Taron’s hips to steady himself. Once he finished, he pulls out of Taron and pants.

The Welsh collapses onto the bed, his breathing heavy and loud. Tears streaks stained his face and he closed his eyes to get himself together as best as he could. Richard removes the ties from his wrists and the one hanging loosely around his neck. He threw them on the floor and laid next to Taron, gently turning him over and holding him close to his body. He was still sniffling a bit.

Caressing his face, Rich softly lifts his chin up and looks into his lover’s eyes. “Are you okay, my love?” He asks, genuine concern in his eyes and tone. Now that the punishment was over, Rich was only concerned with taking care of Taron and showing him nothing but love.

Taron gives a small smile and nods. “I’m alright, love. Although my ass stings and wrists are a bit bruised.” He chuckles softly and licks his dry lips. His voice was very raspy from all the yelling. Rich sat up and reached into the bedside table, getting a water bottle. Helping Taron sit up against his chest, he opens the bottle and helps him drink. Taron sighs relieved and drinks more than half the bottle. Pulling away, he closes it. “Thank you.”

“Of course. You did so good, baby. You took your punishment well.” He praised and kissed his hair, caressing his arms softly.

Taron nods and wraps his arms around his lover. “I’m sorry for being a brat, Richie. I won’t do it again.” He speaks softly and gives him the sincerest eyes he could. He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy the extreme pleasure from his punishment. He just didn’t want to push his body to such limits again any time soon.

“It’s alright love. If I was a bit too rough, I’m sorry. I just had to teach you a lesson.” Rich kisses his temple and holds him tight. “I’m gonna run us a bath, you sit tight, alright?” Rich says and smiles when Taron nods. He gets out of bed and makes his way to the bathroom, turning on the water and adding bubbles and lavender to the water. Once the tub was filled high enough, he went back into the room and found Taron cuddling one of the pillows, almost asleep. Rich walks over and gently picks him up in his arms, taking him to the bathroom and sitting him into the bath.

Taron wakes up a bit and relaxes in the warm water. Richard climbs in behind him and helps him wash his body and hair. Taron melts into his touch and allows Rich to take care of him. The older man cherishes him and makes sure he completely relaxed after their bath. After they get clean and the water turns cold, they get out and wrap themselves in fresh towels. Richard grabs the soothing cream the from cabinet and applies it to Taron’s wrists and ass gently.

Walking back into the room, Rich makes Taron sit on the loveseat at the foot of the bed while he changes the sheets and opens the window a bit to let some fresh air in. He changes into boxers and gets a pair for Taron, helping him put them on. They climb into bed and Taron lays his head on Rich’s chest, wrapping his arms around him.

His husband pulls him close and kisses his forehead, gently running his hand up and down his back. “I love you Taron.” He says softly, not knowing if the man was asleep or not.

Taron looks up and smiles. “I love you more.” He whispers. He leans up and kisses him tenderly. Richard caresses his face and pulls back from the kiss, a smile on his lips. Taron lays his head on his chest again and closes his eyes, drifting off. All while Richard holds him close and tight. 

@sarahegerton96 @anxiety-at-the-classroom @multicoloredchicken @taron-eggmcmuffin @naptitimadderton @primaba11erina @maddertonmyheart @madderton-obsessed

[ofromans]

『 finn cole. twenty-two. cismale. he/him. 』 oh heavens, is that ROMAN COSTA from SYCAMORE WAY i see roaming around mapleview? minnie may’s always calling them -CONNIVING & -UNBRIDLED. i happen to think they’re not that bad! they’re a pretty cool UNEMPLOYED and every time i’ve seen them, they’ve always been +STAUNCH & +ASTUTE. i hope i see them around again! 『 jean. 22. est. she/her. 』

hi squad , hope you’re all having a solid day <3 , i’m jean & this is my brand spankin’ new baby boy roman . i’m throwing a few random tidbits and things below but will be writing up a full blown bio once i have some more time to rly dive in . come thru & let’s party ? PLOT ?

tw : addiction !

he’s the son of STEFANO ( his intro here ) , rock star & basically best bud . he has two half-siblings now ( both just babies ) that his almost new mom left @ their doorstep for his dad to raise ( and he likes to think he helps out a bit too ). 

his biological mother left him and his old man when he was born , not knowing her at all ( and yes , resentful for it ). his dad’s recent fiance ( ex - fiance ) also left the family behind for whatever reason without a trace so yes - you guessed it , roman has mommy issues / abandonment issues galore :-)

growing up as the son to a famous musician had its perks ( the money of COURSE & heading on tour with the coolest dude ever , the social media fame , people treating you differently ) , but it also had some downsides ( the money , the fame ( paps are the Worst !!! ) , and people treating you differently ). funny how those are so similar . although stefano did / does his best as a dad to keep things as normal as possible - it’s somewhat out of his control . roman felt some pressure to act a certain way ( especially if the paparazzi was around - picture a lil kid with cameras flashing in his eyes ok ) , on social media as that came with a built-in following , and he never truly knew who to trust as they got close to him ( a) because of the mommy issues probably, afraid of close relationships & b) are they in it for him or for the money / fame / etc ? )

growing up in the world’s greatest city ( new york ), meant that he had access to everything at his fingertips . and he loved it . a bit of an adrenaline junkie , he loved the excitement , craved the flashing lights when he left & never once had a dull moment . ( except for when he slept in until ... noon , sometimes ). new york perhaps did make him grow up a bit quicker than most though , and roman found himself mixing with some of the wrong crowds / some of the older crowds while he was just shy of a teen . at this point , the alcohol & drugs didn’t seem major as he was still able to keep his average grades up & be the great son / brother he was expected to be  - but during college ( he stayed in nyc and went to nyu ) began his downfall of reliance and commitment to drugs . he became more than just the life of the party , and instead , unhealthy + dangerous  - to himself and those around him . you see , his father and family moved down to his soon to be absent mother’s hometown - mapleview , and roman obviously chose to stay in school , to stay in his home - new york . who would want to move to a place in the middle of nowhere that has the name maple in it ? and with his dad’s fiance who he was never all too found of ? anyway . hitting rock bottom felt repetitive & with his father away ,  it was all too easy to hide the regretful mornings & flunking grades . UNTIL a wild night turned into one with roman thrown into jail with one phone call . after his court ordered rehab & probation ( still on probation tbh ) , roman and his father decided that it’d be best if he moved down to mapleview for a bit after all . ( i wouldn’t say he’s the happiest & it’s p clear that he’s on outsider .... but he’s making the best of it ! plus it seems he came back at the perfect time - now his father being the sole caretaker of the babies . ) he’s been here now for about 6-7 months .

personality wise , i’d say he’s a bit harsh , definitely aware of who he is & a bit cocky . he’s extremely sarcastic / snarky ( i like to think a bit like tony stark tbh ) & doesn’t take all too much seriously . on the bright side , he is loyal to a fault and would do absolutely anything for his half-siblings & especially his father . probably the first to throw a punch in a fight that he knows he’ll lose . he’s intelligent ( though he didn’t get the musical skills that his father has ) , and is able to read people pretty well . he’s blunt , but hardly means to be rude ( even tho it may come off as such ) . roman’s curious by nature & will ask questions that may come off as judgmental ... basically know what he says ≠ what he means , but will still just laugh it off without apology if they’re offended . he’s also ... fun , courageous ! and willing to do anything to get the adrenaline his body craves . 

some headcanons ! loves : thunderstorms , rolled cigarettes , morning sun , good cell service , new sneakers , 90s grunge & euro-dance music , new york sports , going live on instagram , sunglasses , fast cars . // hates : his bad eyesight , shy people , littering , the smell of gasoline , long lines , flip-flops , skiing , cracking knuckles , singing shows , man-buns .  

wanted :

the next-door neighbor ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

the drug dealer ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

good influence ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

the previous boss ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

when roman first got to mapleview , this person hired him graciously . unfortunately , due to whatever circumstances , also had to fire him just a few short months later .

the friends with benefits ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

can have multiple of these tbh , with mommy issues , i assume he’s a bit all over the place in this department .

the enabler ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

this person would be somewhat of a bad influence on roman , especially since he’s still on probation . maybe wanting to take him out to bars / clubs / for a drink . or just doing things that aren’t on the ~legal side of the world .

the enemy ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

can have multiple , of course !

the childhood friend  ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

if anyone is from nyc :~)

the challenger ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

someone else with a sharp mouth, who refuses to accept any of his shit. catch them arguing or fighting every time they’re in a room together. it’s always been that way.

the match ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

tinder plot !

the baby-sitter  ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

the person that helps watch the twins when dad / roman are unable to .

the user  ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

someone that’s using him for something , whether that be to get closer to his father / his studio , for the money / fame , literally anything .

the heartache  ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

a relationship where the fell hard & fast and of course it went south fast .

the adventure sidekick  ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

gimmie those 3am adventures !

the secret  ( TAKEN BY OPEN )

for whatever reason , the two have to keep their relationship / them hanging out a secret .

ALL & EVERYTHING !

[cheatdeathsarchive]

Her dress is the color of the sunset when it’s warm and bright and paints the world that pretty orange-gold. It goes well with her hair, her freckles, her eyes, her smile, and Six likes how light it all makes her feel. It’s not like Benny, not like House. She laughs and giggles and they walk arm in arm down the lit up streets. Six thinks about how Ronnie was in love once and wonders if it felt like this.

Cause she thinks she feels it, thinks she gets it. If love is a color maybe it’s orange. The dress catches the light in a way -- from orange to yellow to gold, and it’s better than any sunset, she thinks. She wants to tell Ronnie, too, but the butterflies in her stomach fly into her throat and she doesn’t know how to rightly say it yet. There will be time later.

There’s an... what’s the term? An Ellie Fant in the room. Six doesn’t know who that is or why her presence is so big, but she’s here and it is. Ellie is one they’ve both been happy to ignore. There were dresses to buy, drinks to be had. There was music and dancing and pretending like things were alright for a day. There was soft hair to rest their cheeks against, and the teasing of fingertips at calloused knuckles and sheepish glances that were safe from wry comments.

They paint the town red like Jane likes to say. They out-party the NCR troopers, watch people come and go and give them all a story which is usually the opposite of how Six likes to daydream. This is fun too, though -- to have a face and to wonder about all that is behind it. The sun is still waiting for its debut, but the horizon is turning a pretty light purple, and Six thinks that would be a pretty color on Veronica Santangelo, too.

Robert House is livid, still so livid, but Six still has run of the Lucky 38. Probably as an incentive. Probably because he knows she’ll go through with what he demands. Not on his terms, she thinks, Not when I’ve learned from Benny and fooled the Legion. Not when I could talk a dying man out of his last drop of water.

Her plan will work. It has to work. They sneak quietly down the hall in case any of their other companions are spending the night in their rooms. No doubt though their exaggerated whispers and giggling are louder than they think. Nobody bothers them all the same. Six turns the radio in her suite on, and Veronica looks around like she’s never been in here before even though she has.

Six loves that -- she does it too sometimes. One time they found a whole mess of old world coins in the couch cushions. Another time they found a time capsule of old world treasures hidden under a mattress. It’s fun to explore the places people haven’t gotten to in ages. Their party could keep going, but Ellie Fant is here and waiting, her arms crossed and Veronica is sick of her presence, too.

“Have you decided?” She asks with a conviction in her voice that Six is immediately aware that she’s practiced, “About what House said, I mean... you’re not going through with it, are you?”

Pretty brown eyes are staring her down. Six replies with a smile, though it’s demure. The Brotherhood’s got her all kinds of conflicted. She can’t imagine how much worse it is for Veronica.

“I don’t wanna kill your family, Ronnie. Family’s all we got out here.” That seems to put her at ease, “But Mr. House ain’t willin’ to listen to me. I tried. I’m thinkin’... I could talk to some caravans, get ‘em set up for supplies... There’s a whole mess of space between here and Tucson.”

Ronnie picks it up, and her appeasement shifts into a cold realization. Six bites her lip, gives her the best helpless look she can muster. Ronnie doesn’t bite.

“That’s not an option,” Veronica replies with a very pointed frown. There isn’t anymore happiness in her face even though it hasn’t been anything but fun this evening. Six sighs. Ronnie insists, “That bunker is our home, Six. It’s hard enough when we get sent out for supply runs under cover. Nobody’s going to help supply an entire chapter of the Brotherhood.”

That makes Six shake her head -- she has favors she can call in, but it’s time for a new approach, “Mr. House won’t listen to reason -- your Elder might, Ronnie. Maybe this is the push they need to adapt.”

“By making them homeless? By taking away the one place we can hide from the NCR, the Legion? By making them all open targets?”

“Better than all dead without a fightin’ chance,” And maybe those are the wrong words. Six takes a breath, “I wanna help you Ronnie, I do... but Mr. House, he --”

“Saved your life, I know. You know what else I know? That you’ve done whatever you had to do with that weird little poker chip he’s so obsessed with. You did your job. He might have saved your life, but why can’t you live it for yourself?”

'Cause she loves him is why. 'Cause she believes in him. Six keeps her mouth shut. She loves Veronica, too, misses the wrinkle in her nose when she laughs. Veronica continues.

“So what?” She fishes, and Six fidgets. Six can hear Benny tutting from whatever hole he’s crawled into, “You want my permission to... to banish the Brotherhood from the Mojave? Because your boss is a megalomaniac dictator?”

Elder McNamara is so much better, Six wants to say, Most the folks down there don’t like your attitude Ronnie, that’s another. Neither are kind, so she opts to say neither at all.

“Autocrat,” Six argues, steeled and frustrated and suddenly stone cold sober. Veronica can’t even look at her right now, “What he can do for the Mojave Ronnie... it’s a hell of a lot more than livin’ underground and hoardin’ weapons you don’t trust people with like you deserve the authority of who gets to have ‘em. It’s resource guardin’, it’s not safe, it’s --”

“Shut up,” Veronica mutters, “just... shut the fuck up.”

Six swallows. Bites her lip so hard she thinks it’s gonna bruise, and takes ten deep breaths. Veronica doesn’t say anything else. Six takes that as permission to speak again, “...I’m gonna get a drink, okay?” Veronica doesn’t answer. She’ll take it as permission, “...I’ll figure somethin’ out, alright? I promise. Nobody’s gotta die.”

Still, nothing. Six hesitates, a small step backwards before finally peeling her eyes away from that pretty orange dress and the woman wearing it. She moves to the kitchen. The medic in her knows water is what’s good. The hedonist in her reaches for a Sunset Sarsaparilla instead. the cap gets popped off and she takes a sip. The vice tastes good, but it’s not enough to make her smile. She’s gotta rethink her plan now.

The sounds of a pneumatic gauntlet rev up behind her. Six knows she can either turn around or duck, and she chooses to duck. Veronica cracks the door of the fridge so deep Six can feel the cold slipping through the crack where the door doesn’t line up right anymore.

“Ronnie --” Six gasps, turning around to see her winding her fist back up. Punches -- the gift that keeps on giving, “Ron, please, hang on. Please, don’t --”

“Shut. Up!” Ronnie screams, and Six is so afraid that someone who isn’t either of them can hear the shouting and the sounds of combat, “I won’t let you.”

The second swing comes, and Six feels it hit her hair just barely as she somersaults out of the way across broken glass and spilled soda and scrambles to her feet. The tiles on the floor shatter. She’s got a silenced .22 under her dress and it shouts at her in Benny’s voice -- never go into a casino unarmed, pussycat. You really fucked this one up, didn’t you?

“Please,” Six begs, and she can only turn around before Veronica tackles her, pins her down. Six kicks, tries to scramble backwards, tries to beg to get Veronica to listen. Veronica grabs her shoulder and sits on her, her gauntlet reeling back. Six struggles more as the first punch lands. She tastes iron, feels the hot sting of skin split open above her left eye. Veronica pulls her fist back and she paints the room red. Her grip loosens just a touch and Six isn’t sure when the gun made it to her hand, but it’s there and she pulls the trigger. Later she finds out it’s right through her heart.

“Don’t --” Veronica Santangelo says, and it’s her last word. There are a million things on her face. She looks... scared. Shocked. Confused. Scared. Scared, scared, so scared. Six gasps, and before Veronica falls on top of her entirely she pushes the still warm corpse to fall beside her instead, rolling away to rest her head against cool tile, and she closes her eyes. Just for a second, she thinks, but when she opens them again Boone is here and so is Victor. The sun is out and pretty shades of yellow and orange shine through the windows.

“Don’t touch her,” Six snaps, her head aching from the hangover. She spits blood out of her mouth.

“We’re just wantin’ to help you clean up a bit, Sugar,” the robot says, very placating, and when Six rolls over she sees he’s holding the body of Veronica Santangelo like a baby. Courier Six screams bloody murder. Boone helps her up. Walks her to the bathroom. Six can’t stop screaming.

She doesn’t know where Victor’s taken her as the sniper cleans her wounds. She never bothers to ask. She doesn’t know when she stops screaming, doesn’t know why she can’t cry instead -- probably because Boone is staring her down behind his aviators and she’s pretty sure she knows just how he’s watching her.

She blames the Brotherhood and slips on her vault suit. Blames them as she goes into Ronnie’s room to slip her scribe robes on top of her outfit. Six blames them as she walks to the Hidden Valley and slips in with the utmost care to be a shadow on the wall. This is a family and they know their people. The disguise doesn’t work if she stops, so Six doesn’t stop. Her head is down and she blames every single person in here for being so rigid, so stuck in their ideals.

It’s their fault that Veronica became disillusioned with them. It’s their fault they are not willing to bend. It’s their fault they are ruined. She sprints out of the Bunker as the sirens go off, throwing the caution and stealth she had been using to the wind along with the burlap hood and robes. The ground rumbles, and she can’t blame them anymore.

It’s not their fault. It never was.

It’s hers.

[just-come-baek]

with friends like you, who needs enemies?

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader ft. mentions of Jimin and his girlfriend

Themes: smut | fluff | friends’ friends to friends to lovers!au | domestic!au | roommate!jimin |

Word count: 11.1k

Summary: Setting up my friend with my roommate is one thing, but walking on them banging on my fancy couch is just… plainly wrong. Not only have they profaned my comfy piece of furniture, but also they’ve neglected our friendship. Completely forgotten, Jungkook and I start to hang out together, but after some time things become a bit too comfortable…

Warnings: overuse of cringe-worthy euphemisms for sex, lots of complaining, unprotected sex and so on;

***

Me | 22:43 | don’t you want to hang out with Jimin???

Me | 22:43 | I need him out of the house

It was my first time texting Jungkook. It felt weird, but it needed to be done. Ever since Jimin and Jiwoo started dating, they were bumping their uglies in Jimin’s room, and I was done with hearing their lewd moans.

These damned thin walls.

Jeon | 22:45 | what did he do this time?

I read Jungkook’s reply, and with my bottom lip puckered, I wondered what I should type so he wouldn’t think I was exaggerating. I couldn’t straight out ask him to call Jimin over to his place because the sex noises coming out of my roommate’s bedroom were louder than my film on the maximum volume.

Me | 22:46 | he’s porking Jiwoo

Jeon | 22:46 | HE’S DOING WHAT???

Jeon | 22:47 | oh, nvm

Jeon | 22:47 | just googled it

Me | 22:48 | yeah, they’ve been screwing everyday this week

Me | 22:48 | can you cockblock him?

Me | 22:48 | just this once

Me | 22:49 | please???

Jeon | 22:49 | can’t do

Of course, he wouldn’t do it! What had I expected? Jimin and Jungkook are best friends with their bro-code and what not, while Jungkook and I are mere acquaintances with maybe five hellos exchanged through the entirety of it.

Jeon | 22:51 | sorry, I’m gaming with Tae

Me | 22:53 | of course you do

I was a little bit angry when I wrote it, but I understood him. It wasn’t his problem to deal with, and if he were struggling with a similar kind of issue, I wouldn’t help him either. I’m the one who had agreed to share a flat with Jimin, and regardless of how much I regret it now, I’m the one who suggested them to go on that fucking date.

It was my first attempt at matchmaking anybody, and since it backfired so terribly, I was sure, it was also my last attempt.

Jeon | 22:52 | you can crash on my couch if they bother you so much

That was unexpected; Jungkook was showing me kindness, and I had no idea how to react. We had never hung out alone, and he was offering me a place to sleep. Admittedly, if he had such an annoying roommate, I’d let him suffer.

Thankfully, he was a good guy.

Jeon | 22:53 | I’m going to game all night but I still think they’re louder

Me | 22:54 | seriously?

Me | 22:55 | no take backs

Jeon | 22:55 | you remember where I live, right?

Jimin had taken me once to a small party at Jungkook’s, and though I couldn’t remember the building number, I knew how it looked like and how to get there. It would probably take me fifteen minutes of walk to reach it.

Me | 22:56 | sure

Me | 22:56 | thank you!

Me | 22:56 | I owe you one 

***

Jungkook didn’t lie when he said he’d be quieter than Jimin and Jiwoo; when I entered his apartment, he just smiled and muttered make yourself at home, and with that, Jungkook was gone in his bedroom, gaming.

It wasn’t unpleasant, but it was weird – to be in his living room alone.

His flat was rather tidy and comfortable, and it was evident it belonged to a man. Lazily, I fished a book out of my bag; it was the second book of a shitty trilogy, and despite wanting to pull all my hair out whenever I flipped the page, I couldn’t stop reading it.

I started reading, but it was difficult without acceptable background noise. With my finger marking the page, I paused, stood up and marched toward Jungkook’s room. Having knocked, I pushed the doors slightly open, and asked, “Do you mind if I hang out here for a while? It’s still early, and I have a fucked-up sleeping schedule.”

Jungkook turned his head toward me and nodded. Smiling, I closed the doors behind me and lay down on his bed. He was sitting in his fancy gaming chair, and had an expensive-looking headset; it was evident he took his hobby very seriously.

“Are you having a girl over?” I heard, probably Taehyung, since he had mentioned his name earlier, say through Jungkook’s headphones since this boy apparently didn’t mind loud game sounds.

“It’s just Jimin’s roommate; Jimin and his girlfriend are shagging way too loud, so I let her stay at my place,” Jungkook explained, and I shrugged, returning to my book.

“She’s at your place? You should totally hook up with her,” Taehyung encouraged Jungkook, and I giggled, ignoring the indecent advice. We barely knew each other, and no matter how good Jungkook must be at sex, it wasn’t happening. Tempting – very tempting, but I wouldn’t let it happen. I didn’t need more drama at this point in my life.

“You better focus on the game or else I’m gonna let them kill you!” Jungkook yelled into the microphone, and Taehyung immediately stopped teasing him. Though I wasn’t sure, I presumed that Jungkook was a skilled player that no one fancied getting on his wrong side.

It was a calm night, yet a few annoyed groans still escaped his mouths whenever Jungkook’s team was losing. I wasn’t better at keeping my reactions at bay, especially when the lead character did something incredibly stupid, and I wished her boyfriend turned out to be a serial killer, obsessed with the idea to murder her.

“You know what? I’m done playing with you for tonight,” Jungkook barked when they lost another battle because of Taehyung. Angrily, he threw the headset on the desk, and running his fingers through his hair, he swiveled in his gaming chair, staring at me lying comfortably.

“It wasn’t your day, was it?” I asked though I was still focused on the book.

“It’s them,” Jungkook said, pointing at the computer behind him. “It wasn’t their day; I’m way too good to have bad episodes.” He explained, and I hummed, even though I didn’t care. No matter how Jungkook seemed to love gaming, it wasn’t my cup of tea, and I wasn’t going to pretend to enjoy it so he would like me. I was still polite enough to listen to whatever bothered him, though.

“Is it interesting?” Jungkook asked, tilting his head, mentioning the book in my hands.

“Oh God, no,” I sighed in relief as I slammed the novel close for dramatic purposes. “Do you want to watch a movie or something?” I proposed, and Jungkook smiled casually.

“I’d drunk five energy drinks before you came here; I won’t fall asleep for at least two days, so a movie sounds pretty awesome.” Jungkook clarified, and I sat up, staring at him.

“Do you have anything in mind? I’m fine with whatever,” I said, smiling. As long as I hadn’t seen a film before, it should be alright.

“We can just look through my Netflix recommendations; there should be something interesting.” Jungkook proposed, and I nodded, following him to the living room. “Do you want anything to eat?” He asked politely, but before I answered him, he added, “I have only unhealthy snacks, though. I hope you don’t mind it.”

“There’s no such a thing like a healthy snack,” I remarked, sitting down on the couch, while Jungkook pranced to the kitchen to get us food. Within two minutes, he took a seat beside me and placed a large bag of chips and a six-pack of beer on the coffee table.

“So… how are the lovebirds?” Jungkook asked curiously, as he took a sip of the chilled beer.

“They’re good, maybe even too good for my liking,” I admitted honestly, looking at Jungkook who grabbed the remote and turned the TV on. “Jiwoo has her own flat; I have no idea why they keep hitting skins in Jimin’s room. I was the one who set them up! I swear they’re trying to spite me!” I ranted on, and Jungkook chuckled while looking for a catching movie title.

“They've probably forgotten you exist. Do you know how many times Jimin came over here ever since their first date?” Jungkook asked, and I shook my head. Yes, Jimin’s my friend, but no, he doesn’t relate everything he does – for which I’m very thankful. “Zero.”

“Oh, it is nice knowing I’m not the only one left out,” I muttered.

“It doesn’t have to be a bad thing,” Jungkook carried on, and I raised my head, looking at him, waiting for elaboration. “You finally can do whatever you want without getting disturbed. Spoil yourself before they start to cling to you again.”

In some odd way, he made sense. Jiwoo and Jimin were so busy rolling in the hay; I might as well use my free time to relax.

“I just might.”

***

The very next weekend, Jimin asked me if I minded him throwing a party at our apartment; it was their third week together, and they decided to celebrate it with their closest friends. What kind of anniversary even was that?

“As long as you’re the one tidying I don’t mind,” I snickered, trying to get something extra out of this situation. I was actually in a mood for a small gathering, but Jimin didn’t have to know that. “What do you say?”

“Ugh, fine,” Jimin gave in quickly, looking around the mess in the living room which was solely my creation. “What did I tell you about getting your shoes on the shoe-shelf? I’m not perfect, but you better put them there, or I’m gonna throw them away,” Jimin warned me, as he picked up my trainer and threw it across the room.

“I love you, too,” I cooed, smiling at Jimin who was cursing me under his breath. “Do you want me to cook anything?” I shouted before he disappeared into the confines of his room, dramatically slamming the doors.

Two hours later, he cooled down enough to hold a conversation with me, and although he said I didn’t have to cook anything, he gave me a long-ass shopping list. He didn’t want me around when he was cleaning up because he knew I’d make another mess, so sending me to the supermarket was the only reasonable option left.

“I told them to bring booze, so don’t but too much alcohol,” Jimin told me, as he handed me some cash which should cover most of the costs.

“Don’t worry, I’m really good at shopping,” I assured him before I put the money in my wallet. “Have I ever failed you?”

“Only today you’ve failed me like four times,” Jimin stated straightforwardly, and I wanted to jab him in the eye with a pencil for giving me that attitude. “And it’s barely noon!”

“Wow,” I said, sounding a tad bit overdramatic. “You did not say that!”

“I did yes,” Jimin retorted, and I refrained myself from harming him regardless of how much pleasure it would bring me. “And now get going, don’t hurry.”

***

Though I could invite my friends, no one could make it on such short notice. Well… except for Jiwoo, but she was too busy making out with Jimin to keep me company. I was still convinced I’d have a great time, though. I knew Jimin’s friends, and since he had better things to do than mingling with his guests, I took the role of the host on myself.

“Hi, what’s up?” I asked as soon as I approached Taehyung and Jungkook who were enthusiastically chatting with each other. Probably about that game which they had been playing the last time; I understood none of their jabber, so it must’ve been it.

“It’s cool, but I still don’t get it; they’ve been dating for three weeks. What kind of anniversary is that?” Jungkook whined, and I giggled, hearing my previous thoughts leave his mouth. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one wondering about it.

“My words exactly,” I exclaimed, interjecting him. “Do you know any drinking games? I think it’s about time we play one.”

“What about most likely?” Taehyung proposed, and I looked at him curiously. I had never played that game, and I didn’t know the rules, so he had to explain it to me. “It’s quite easy, and hopefully, we can get drunk really quickly.”

One person asks a ‘most likely’ question, and then all players point at whoever seems most likely to do so. The person, who gets the maximum number of fingers pointing at them, drinks. It sounded easy, and when Taehyung explained it to me, Jungkook looked for more players to make it even more interesting.

At first, we started with easy questions, but after a couple of rounds, everyone got a bit competitive, and it became quite dirty. I wasn’t surprised, it was bound to happen. We all were college students, after all.

“Who would be most likely to have a threesome with twins?” Hoseok asked, and without thinking, I counted to three and pointed at him. Pretty much like everyone else. Hoseok was a fuckboy, and I was sure he had tried it before at least once.

“You know the rules,” Namjoon mocked Hoseok when the latter tried to bullshit his way out of his punishment. “Bottoms up!”

“Ugh, I hate you guys,” he complained but emptied his bottle anyway.

“Who would be most likely to give a shitty head?” Yoongi inquired, being another one in the queue. It wasn’t as easy as the previous question, but I only got three seconds to make up my mind, so I panicked, randomly pointing my finger at Jungkook.

“What are you guys playing?” Jiwoo asked as she approached our group, Jimin being right beside her. They were sickeningly in love, but eventually, they remembered they had guests. “You don’t mind if we play, do you?”

Taehyung quickly explained the rules for the fourth time this evening, and when they were filled in, Jiwoo was the first one to play.

“Who would be most likely to have sex in a public place?” She voiced, and without even counting, I pointed at Jimin. Maybe I hadn’t walked on them knocking boots yet, but I had a feeling neither of them would be expressly turned down by the prospect of hooking up in such circumstances. They were unquestionably too sex-crazed to care.

The game continued for another thirty minutes; it was fun, but Hoseok grossed everyone out before they managed to discover all my dirty secrets.

“You seriously think I give the worst head?” Jungkook straightforwardly asked when he caught me alone in the kitchen when I was getting another bottle of beer.

“I wouldn’t put that much thought to it if I were you,” I stated casually, hoping he would dismiss that subject. “Don’t take it personally, my choice was completely random.”

“I’m just messing with you,” Jungkook declared, and I chuckled as the alcohol started kicking in. I was feeling lightheaded, and whatever Jungkook said made me beam at him.

“Shame, I was about to lash out at you for choosing me as the most likely get pregnant with a one-night stand. I mean… what the fuck, Jeon?” I asked dramatically, but after three seconds of looking into his eyes, I cracked.

“Well… you were the only single girl playing with us, who should I pick?” Jungkook spoke defensively, and I shook my head, laughing. “I didn’t have a choice, did I?”

“You did not,” I answered, as I sat on the kitchen counter. “There’s a bag of shredded cheese in the fridge, do you mind handing me some?”

“Should’ve thought about your snack before you put that cute butt on the counter,” Jungkook snickered, as he opened the refrigerator only to get a chilled bottle of beer, completely ignoring my humble request.

“So you’re gonna be a mean friend,” I wondered out loud, swinging my legs from side to side. “I should’ve seen it coming.” I sighed, hoping I could shoot lasers with my eyes because Jungkook was being a dick.

“What about some shots instead?”

***

Though it was weird, I didn’t particularly hate their odd anniversaries. However, when Jiwoo forgot about the horror marathon, I seriously thought I was going to pour acid on her face for ditching me like that. The tickets were pretty pricey, yet she dared to stand me up one hour before the screening.

What a selfish bitch!

How dare she pick Jimin over me?

At first, I weighed the pros and cons of going alone, but then I decided to find a replacement; it’s not like Jiwoo was my only friend…

Maybe I had plenty of friends, but none of them were available at such a short notice. A friend in need is a friend indeed… such bullshit! Apparently, I was surrounded by fakes.

Sighing, I scrolled through my contact list looking for someone who would like to tag along. And then my thumb hovered above Jungkook’s name. We hadn’t talked since that party, and although it was so out of the blue to ask him to go to the movies with me, he seemed to be my last resort. He hadn’t let me down the last time, and I didn’t expect him to do it now.

Me | 20:46 | are you busy tonight?

Me | 20:47 | Jiwoo stood me up again

Jeon | 20:51 | oh… she did?

Me | 20:51 | yeah

Me | 20:51 | there’s a horror marathon tonight, and she canceled on me

Me | 20:51 | and the tickets are nonrefundable!

Me | 20:52 | they’re going to meet his parents

Me | 20:53 | can you believe it?

Jeon | 20:54 | wow

Jeon | 20:54 | at this pace they’re gonna marry in two months

Me | 20:55 | I guess

Me | 20:55 | what about the cinema?

Me | 20:55 | do you wanna go???

Me | 20:56 | I can go alone but that’d be lame

Jeon | 20:57 | it’s tonight?

Jeon | 20:57 | I was gonna hit the gym, but I guess I can skip once

Me | 20:57 | thanks!!!

Me | 20:58 | you’re the best!!!

***

“Do you want anything?” Jungkook asked me when we walked beside the cinema bar; the popcorn smelled delicious, and if I hadn’t eaten a large supper at home, my mouth would definitely water. “You don’t want me to give you money for the ticket, so the least I can do is buy you some snacks,” Jungkook argued, but I dismissed him.

“No, you don’t have to,” I assured him, as we sat in a vacant sofa in the lobby. “Jiwoo paid for her ticket, and she said I could do anything with it, so I’m treating you. You’re the only one who could make it anyway.” I explained, and Jungkook sighed, not knowing how to convince me to agree to his proposition. “Besides, I owe you for the last time,” I remembered, and Jungkook almost growled in irritation.

“But seriously, it’s just a cup of coke and a bucket of popcorn. It’s not a big deal,” Jungkook carried on, and I just rolled my eyes.

“But it’s so overpriced,” I reasoned, and Jungkook ran his hand through his hair in frustration, not knowing how to win this argument. I had a point, and what was wrong with me treating him? I owed him, so I was just paying my debt with no attempt to hurt his ego whatsoever.

“Ok, fine, so I’ll go over there and buy something for myself,” Jungkook announced before he walked off to stand in a line. “And if you happen to try to steal some later, I’m gonna smack that hand,” he warned me shouting from over his spot in the queue, making a dozen of heads turn, suddenly curious about our small quarrel.

Smiling, I got off the sofa, joining Jungkook by his side. I knew I was right, but Jungkook was so adorably stubborn, and I just had to give in. And the crowd which was pressuring me wasn’t making it any easier.

“Which popcorn do you want?” Jungkook asked me when it was finally our turn to order. “Personally, I prefer regular one, but if you like caramel one, I can make an exception.”

“I prefer regular one, too,” I answered casually, not wanting to order longer than necessary; the first movie was about to start in five minutes, and around ten people were still in the queue behind us. “So hurry up, we’re gonna miss all the commercials!”

“Ugh, fine, and what do you want to drink?” Jungkook asked, and I quickly said coke. “It wasn’t that difficult now, was it?” He added mockingly, handing me the bucket of popcorn.

Quickly, we found our seats.

Well… one double seat. I should’ve known better not to let Jiwoo buy the tickets. Even though she had Jimin to cuddle with, she wouldn’t miss a chance to sneak her arm around mine. And while I was used to Jiwoo being clingy, with Jungkook sitting next to me, it felt awkward. Thank God, I hadn’t seen the projected movies yet, so I was going to focus on the screen, and not the handsome man beside me.

The lights went out, and the eerie music began to play; I was excited, and I hoped for the first horror movie to be exciting and spooky. It was okay; it didn’t frighten me at all, and I predicted the ending correctly, but at least I laughed when someone in the audience shrieked at one of the jump-scares. The second one was much worse, though. Somehow through it, I fell asleep, only to be stirred awake by Jungkook during the third movie when my head slid on his shoulder.

“Sorry…” I whispered, rubbing my eyes, trying not to fall asleep again.

“It’s okay, you didn’t miss anything anyway,” Jungkook added, and I smiled, wrapping myself in my jacket warmly before I dozed off again.

***

The next time I messaged Jungkook wasn’t because I was annoyed with the lovebirds’ shenanigans; I really liked his company and frankly wanted to hang out with him. He was the only one within my circle of friends who had time to meet up. Among my friends, he was the only one I could actually rely on these days.

Me | 18:43 | what are you up to?

Jungkook didn’t disappoint; two minutes later I saw three little dots as he typed his reply.

Jeon | 18:46 | I was just about to leave for the gym

Jeon | 18:46 | what happened?

Jeon | 18:47 | are they bothering you again?

Me | 18:48 | Nah

Me | 18:48 | I’m bored

Jeon | 18:49 | oh

Me | 18:50 | we could go together to the public gym...

Jeon | 18:51 | but they’re shit!

Jeon | 18:51 | and only old people exercise there!

Me | 18:52 | please???

Me | 18:52 | I’m really bored

Jeon | 18:53 | ughhhhh

Jeon | 18:54 | meet you there in 20

***

“You have to warm up first,” Jungkook announced when I was about to start my workout. “How about doing two laps around the park?” He proposed, and I rolled my eyes, thinking it wasn’t that great idea to join him on his training.

“Are you serious? It’s not a warm-up, you’re trying to kill me,” I whined, having no intention of running. “When I said I’d join you, I meant that I would laze around beside you when you work out, and not actually working out myself, you know…”

Jungkook tongued his cheek, glancing at me from head to toe. “If you’re going to laze around, you’ll never get rid of those spaghetti legs, you know…” he mocked, and I gritted my teeth, staring at him angrily.

“You did not say that,” I spoke slowly, and Jungkook just shrugged nonchalantly.

“Oh, I did,” he replied, and if I didn’t hate running so much, I would sprint toward him and smack that smirk off his face. “A little bit of sport won’t do you any harm.”

“You could cut me some slack, it’s my first attempt of exercising in months,” I reasoned, hoping he would understand me. “Besides, I don’t want to be ripped like you,” I added, and then an idea popped into my mind. “How about you run those two laps and I’ll time you?”

“Or maybe we should bet?”

“What are you thinking about?”

“If you run one lap faster than I run two, you win, and I treat you to some ice-cream later,” Jungkook explained, and I tried my best not to smile mischievously. Sure, I hadn’t done sports in a while, but back in the day, I had been a rather fast runner. Maybe, I was a little out of shape right now, but I couldn’t be that bad to lose this bet.

“I’m not sure…” I trailed on dubiously.

“Come on, don’t be a chicken,” Jungkook egged on, and I gave in without further complaining. “I knew you wouldn’t back out of a challenge.”

“What can I say? I’m competitive, just like you.”

Having sealed the bet with a firm hand-shake, we established the finishing line. It was a long distance, but Jungkook had no chance running two laps faster than I did one. Perhaps, I’d lose one lung during the run, but it was the risk I was willing to take if that meant free ice-cream.

“Good luck,” Jungkook said, winking at me before he took off at his maximum speed. Shaking my head, I sprinted as fast as I could, even though I knew he wouldn’t outpace me.

My legs were hurting, my breath was shallow, and I could feel the blood taste in my mouth. I was definitely out of shape, but the finishing line was within now 100 meters, and Jungkook was still way behind me.

“Oh shit,” I looked over my shoulder and saw Jungkook who was running like his life depended on it. He didn’t seem to tire at all, so I sped, using the last bits of energy.

The second I ran through the finishing line, I almost collapsed on the ground as my legs felt like noodles which weren’t able to support my weight. Panting, I sat on the grass and leaned in, having my head between my knees as I gasped for air.

“Okay, you won this one,” Jungkook muttered, breathing heavily. “And I hope you’ve warmed up for the rest of the training.” He stretched his arm, helping me to stand up.

“I have enough of this training already,” I complained as I followed behind him.

“Fine, I won’t torture you today; let’s just get ice-cream.”

***

It has been almost two months since the first time I initiated contact with Jungkook in order to keep my mind off Jimin and Jiwoo’s antics. Ever since then, Jungkook and I became very tight, and at some point, I considered him a better friend that Jiwoo or Jimin have ever been. At least, he was flexible enough to meet up with me when I really needed someone. Out of all of my friends, Jungkook proved himself to be the only one I could always rely on.

Without any hesitation, I could call him my best friend.

Usually, it was me who initiated contact, but this time, it was Jungkook who reached out to me, asking me if I had any plans for tonight. I had three exams on Monday, but I still had two spare days to study, so I asked him what he had on mind.

Me | 17:41 | What are you planning?

Jeon | 17:42 | Nothing much… I’m just bored

Jeon | 17:42 | I thought about a movie marathon

Jeon | 17:42 | What do you say???

Jeon | 17:42 | I have snacks

Having hung out with me, Jungkook already knew what to say to pique my interest.

Me | 17:43 | Ok, I’m interested

Me | 17:43 | What are we watching tonight?

Jeon | 17:44 | I don’t know…

Jeon | 17:44 | maybe some action movies?

Me | 17:45 | sounds good

Me | 17:45 | I’ll be over at your place in 30

Jeon | 17:45 | OK, I’m waiting

Quickly, I put my phone away, quickly getting ready to leave. I took my books out of my purse and packed some clothes to sleep in, cosmetics for washing off my make-up before sleep and an extra bottle of plum wine in case we would run out of alcohol.

Within ten minutes, I was ready to leave. Quietly, I exited my room, and then, screamed in shock when Jimin scared the shit out of me. “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked as I pressed my hand against my chest, trying to calm down my beating heart. What was he doing inside the house? What was he doing without Jiwoo? They were attached to the hip – ever since they started going out, I have never seen them separately. Did they have a fight? Did they break up? What the hell was going on?

“Where are you going?” Jimin asked me as he sat up. Staring at me, and then at my bag, he furrowed his eyebrows, trying to figure out where I was headed. “So…” he waited for my answer, but I didn’t want to tell him about Jungkook, knowing he was going to tease me about it, and probably, even try to set me up with him. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind taking our friendship to another level, but if anything was going to stem from it, I wanted it to happen naturally, and not because friends in a relationship wanted me to be in a relationship, too. “Have you finally got yourself a boyfriend?”

I’d love to sneak out to see my boyfriend, but it wasn’t happening, so I only rolled my eyes at him. “What boyfriend? You know I’m not seeing anybody.” I answered honestly, and Jimin sighed, as he evidently wanted me to get laid. “But what is really weird; what are you doing here? Trouble in paradise?” I fired the question as I sat down beside him.

“No, it’s nothing like that.” Jimin quickly denied, and I nodded my head in acknowledgment, waiting for the explanation. Regardless of them forgetting about my existence, they were still my friends, and I cared about them. “Jiwoo’s mother has sent her to a dieting trip, and although I told them that she’s perfect and she doesn’t need to lose any more weight, they didn’t listen to me. She’s going to come back next week; until then, we can only text.”

“You will survive.”

“Of course, I’m going to survive, but I’d rather didn’t have to, you know,” Jimin trailed off, and then, I smiled, trying to disguise my disgusted reaction; they were so sickeningly in love, and I wanted to vomit whenever I witnessed the affection they were showering each other with. “So where are you going? Can I tag along? I need something to keep myself busy when Jiwoo can’t reply me.”

“Sorry, can’t do,” I quickly answered as I stood up and took my bag off the floor. “Lisa’s boyfriend of two years dumped her, and we’re going to console her. She likes you, but you’re too happy with Jiwoo to be any help to her.”

“Oh, I see,” Jimin said, a bit disappointed that he couldn’t accompany me. He understood that it wasn’t the best idea for him to go with me. Thankfully, he didn't inquire any further. “Tell her that this guy is a jerk. She deserves better, anyway.”

“Sure,” I answered, as I ran to the doors. In no time, I put my shoes on and threw my jacket over my shoulders. I told Jungkook that I'd see him in 30 minutes, and because of this chit-chat with Jimin, I was running a bit late.

***

“You’re late,” said Jungkook as soon as he opened the doors for me. I looked up, trying to apologize and explain that I was trying to blow Jimin off, but Jungkook just shrugged, smiling at me. “I’m just kidding. It’s no big deal. Come on in, I’m making cheese nachos.”

“Ooh… sounds tasty, I have never eaten cheese nachos,” I said, as I closed the doors behind me and took off my shoes.

“You can’t be serious! It’s impossible, everybody has eaten it at some point,” Jungkook spoke, very confused that I have never tasted it.

“There’s always a first time for everything,” I replied, as I followed behind him, sitting in a chair, inhaling the delicious smell of nachos. “So… what are we watching?”

“I don’t know; what about some Marvel movies?” Jungkook proposed, and I sighed, not convinced about his choice. He was a hardcore fan, so he was probably trying to force this hobby on me, too. Spiderman was kinda cute, but it wasn’t enough to convince me to start watching all of the movies from the superhero franchise.

“I don’t feel like it. Maybe some other time,” I trailed off, as I watched Jungkook prepare the nachos. It looked like a simple recipe, but I still appreciated the view in front of me and the effort he put into making it. Although it was actually inappropriate to have these kinds of thoughts about friends, I couldn’t help myself; Jungkook was a snack, but when he was bustling around the kitchen, he was just irresistible.

“OK, let’s go,” Jungkook spoke, pulling me out of my train of thought. Carefully, he carried the trey with nachos to the living room. “I’m actually fine with anything,” he said as he sat down on the couch, turning on his laptop.

It was difficult to pick anything. One of Jungkook’s friends, Namjoon, recommended him Friends to polish his English, and since I had seen the majority of episodes, I proposed to watch Criminal Minds. After what it felt like an hour, for the sake of the stiffing cheese, we decided to compromise – every two episodes of Friends, we were going to watch one of Criminal Minds, and since the duration was almost even, I complied.

 “It is fun hanging out with you like that,” Jungkook said during the third episode of Criminal Minds. Currently, Spencer Reid was in the frame, and I was grinning like an idiot while munching on the rest of nachos. “I mean it; even when you fan-girl over that guy way too hard,” he joked, and I looked at him sternly, not liking his tone.

“Excuse you, but Spencer is a genius. He’s every girl’s favorite,” I remarked, and once again smiled when Spencer said something smart. “Besides, I can lust after whoever I want. I didn’t say anything when you fanboyed over Iron Man the last time.”

“It’s different,” Jungkook argued, and I giggled at his strange behavior. Having paused the video, I put the trey on the table and turned to look at him. “Besides, I’m way cooler than him, anyone would confirm that.”

“Yeah, right,” I snorted, shaking my head in disbelief. What was going on with him? Was he feeling insecure when compared to Spencer? Well… Spencer is a character, and Jungkook’s a real person, and I like him much more. “But seriously, you’re both great.”

“But I’m way more handsome,” Jungkook stubbornly claimed, and I agreed with him, knowing there was no point in arguing. Although it was a little arrogant of him, he was correct. Jungkook had his own charm, and it made him ridiculously attractive. “I was right,” Jungkook admitted, and I rolled my eyes at him, “although I have never caught you drooling over me, I’ve always known you liked me.”

“That’s not what I said,” I fought back, but Jungkook just smiled sheepishly, ignoring whatever I could say to defend my situation.

“Yeah, but you didn’t deny it,” Jungkook admitted smugly, and I smacked his thigh, urging him to stop embarrassing me. I came to watch something, not to get teased.

“Well… in that case,” I started, as I smiled at him and looked straight into his beautiful dark eyes. “You must like me too since you’re so curious about my feelings,” I said, and Jungkook looked away, a bit startled by my bold words. “Am I right, Jeon?”

“Maybe.”

***

After our conversation, we continued the marathon until it was four o’clock in the morning. Despite that we basically confessed to each other, nothing exciting happened; we carried on our marathon as if we didn’t just have that talk.

Not that I minded, though. I had no idea why it was possible, but it didn’t feel awkward at all.

Not even when we woke up in the afternoon cuddled on the couch. We probably should’ve discussed this unusual confession, but none of us felt like it. Nothing has changed, and everything seemed fine, so why should we change something that’s good?

The thing that we silently agreed on was giving each other some space. We didn’t part ways with an awkward hug or anything, but we didn’t reach one another throughout the rest of the week. And then, during another week, either, but I didn’t put that much thought to it. I was a pretty hectic week for me, and I suspected Jungkook to deal with similar problems.

Next Thursday, having done the groceries, I was on my way back home. It was past 9 o’clock, and I was tired after many hours of work, and right now, I couldn’t wait to reach the apartment, bake the damn pizza I had been craving the entire week, and doze off during another TV series.

When in front of the doors of my apartment, I put the grocery bag on the floor, as I sought for the keys in my bottomless purse. Quickly, I inserted the key and opened the doors only to shriek in disgust when I saw the scene occurring in front of my eyes.

Jimin was nailing Jiwoo on my fucking couch!

How could they? On my couch! That’s despicable! On my couch!

It was Thursday; she wasn’t supposed to be back until tomorrow! Fine, she was back, but couldn’t they have enough decency to Wam Bam Thank You Ma’am in his bedroom, or at least, give me a heads-up that they were going to defile my couch?

“What the fuck?” I hollered, as I closed my eyes, took a step backward, and slammed the doors shut. I saw them for 2 seconds tops, but Jimin still managed to flash his fucking dong in front of my innocent eyes.

Instantly, I grabbed the groceries and walked out of the apartment complex. The moment the fresh air hit my face, I pulled out my phone and dialed Jungkook’s number. Right now, he was the only one I could turn to, even after what happened the last time I saw him.

“Are you busy right now?” I asked Jungkook, not even bothering to greet him.

“Oh, hi. I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Jungkook mused, and I rolled my eyes. “I’m waiting for Tae; we’re having a Marvel marathon tonight. Why? What happened?”

“Oh,” I hummed, “I’ll tell you when I get to you,” I stated before I hung up, not waiting for his approval. I had caught them humping on my couch – I was pissed, and I needed to distract myself. Needless to say, hanging out with Jungkook and Taehyung didn’t seem that bad.

They were great, it actually seemed dope.

Within fifteen minutes, I reached Jungkook’s apartment.

Quickly, Jungkook swung the doors open, and then I blurted, “I came back home only to catch Jiwoo getting boned on my fucking couch!”

“What?” Jungkook asked in confusion, but he took a step to the side, letting me in.

“I think I am traumatized right now,” I said lifelessly, as I sat on his couch, dropping my groceries by my feet. “You know what? This couch was very expensive, and they just… profaned it,” I spoke, not caring if Jungkook was listening to me. I just had to get it out of my system. “How could they? On my couch!”

Jungkook sat beside me, as I stared blankly at nothing in particular.

“I came back home after doing shopping, and then I caught them fornicating on my cute couch. And I’m pretty sure I made eye-contact with Jimin’s dick. The worst two seconds of my life. Jungkook, do you have bleach?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jungkook reprimanded me, but I casually wrapped my arms around his neck, not even asking if he minded being my shoulder to cry on. Maybe I was being a bit overdramatic, but how was I going to face Jimin after seeing him in his birthday suit?

“Are you hungry?” I asked as soon as I pulled away, jumping on my feet. Usually, hard work kept me occupied, and right now, cooking seemed to be the only activity I could engage myself in. “I was going to bake pizza, I have all the needed ingredients,” I announced, picking up the grocery bag, moving toward his tiny kitchen.

“Do you need any help?” Jungkook offered, sitting by the kitchen island, watching me rummage around the kitchen.

“You can shred the cheese,” I told him, giving him one of the simplest tasks.

Jungkook turned on the radio, and we cooked in peace, talking about everything and nothing. He knew that I had to be kept busy, and he helped me. And I really appreciated it.

“When is Tae going to be here?” I inquired when I unpacked the groceries.

“Oh, he should’ve been here by now,” Jungkook said when he checked the time. “Wait a second,” he mused when he pulled out his phone. “That bitch ditched me!” Jungkook yelled, showing me their conversation in which Taehyung picked a hot Tinder date over Jungkook.

“What kind of friends do we have?” I asked rhetorically, but then I smiled at him. “Don’t be sad, though. If he’s not coming, it means there’s more food for us.” I said, reminding him that there’s always a blessing in disguise. “And my pizza is to die for!”

“Do you want a drink? I think we both need to get drunk,” Jungkook offered, and I nodded – he must’ve read my mind. If he didn’t want to hand me a bottle of bleach, then I’d have to resort to alcohol. “That fucker.”

Quickly, Jungkook poured us drinks, and although it was a bit too strong for my liking, I was going to drink it because the urge to erase Jimin’s dick from my memory was stronger than my common sense.

“So… is he big?” Jungkook asked me when he finished shredding the cheese. He was sitting on the opposite side of the table, supping his drink, staring at me knead the dough. Having sighed, I looked up at him, and flicked some flour on his face, hoping that he would shut his mouth. I wanted to erase that image, and talking about it wouldn’t make that picture to go away. “What? I wanna know.” Jungkook whined, and I shook my head, having no energy to comment on his statement.

Why do men need to know if they’re bigger or not? What does he need this validation for?

“Why don’t you focus on something useful… like turning on the oven, for example,” I said, and Jungkook listened to my command.

“So you’re not going to answer me, are you?” Jungkook asked me again as if he hoped I’d change my mind.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I have nothing to compare it with,” I started, as I spread the sauce over the dough. “If you really wanna know, just flash me your dick, and I’ll tell you who’s bigger,” I added boldly, and Jungkook choked on his second drink, as he did not expect me to ask him to do that.

“On the second thought, I don’t wanna know,” he said, returning to his previous spot. “A simple no would work, by the way.”

“I’m not so sure it would,” I said confidently, as I put all the toppings. Now, we just had to wait for the oven to heat. “So what do you want to do? I need to do something to keep myself busy, so I could forget what I saw. I’m literally down with everything.”

“Everything you say?” Jungkook repeated after me, cocking up his eyebrow, probably thinking of something naughty. If I was right, I couldn’t blame him for any indecent thoughts of me. I would be a hypocrite because I had been thinking about him every night when I had been trying to fall asleep. And then, he had often haunted my dreams, too.

“What? What are you thinking about?” I inquired, though I had already a few possible answers to my question. Jungkook’s embarrassed smile could only mean one thing.

“Oh, I don’t think you wanna find out, baby,” he answered cockily, and I looked into his eyes, as I didn’t expect to hear that kind of reply. My boldness had successfully shied him away, and he was trying to intimidate me in the same way.

“What a shame,” I muttered, as I turned around to put the pizza into the oven. “As I said, I’m down with anything. So, what? Should we continue our marathon from where we left it last week?” I proposed innocently, but Jungkook didn’t seem excited about that option.

“You know what? Screw this,” Jungkook said before he approached me, turned me around, and forced his lips against mine. The kiss was rushed and sloppy, but it conveyed our frustration and urgency, and to me, it was perfect.

Almost instantly, he pushed his tongue into my mouth, and I let out a moan. His hands were holding my face, while mine quickly found purchase on his firm butt and pulled him against me. Unsynchronized, our lips moved together, desperately making up for the lost time that we had spent not kissing each other.

“Jungkook,” I moaned his name, and as if being urged, he hoisted me up and sat me down on the kitchen counter. With his lips tightly pressed against mine, he spread my legs and quickly slipped between them.

Although Jungkook barely touched me, I felt the flame kindle within me. Jungkook’s hands wandered down my sides until they reached my hips where he dug his fingers in. I loved it when he was feeling my body.

When I wanted to moan his name again, Jungkook bit on my bottom lip, stopping it from rolling off my tongue. Right now, he only cared about one thing, and it was me reciprocating his passionate kiss.

“I wanted to do that for quite a long time,” Jungkook confessed, as he pulled away. His eyes were shut close; his forehead was pressed against mine, while his hands dragged me over to the edge of the counter so I could feel his hardening cock.

“Me, too,” I admitted, as I wrapped my legs around his waist. “I won’t tell you how many times thoughts of you fucking me kept me awake at night,” I added, and Jungkook chuckled before he captured my lips again, already missing them.

“I’m hoping you thought of me every night,” Jungkook whispered against my mouth before he began to suck on my bottom lip, playfully pulling it. “I couldn’t fall asleep before I jerked off to you,” Jungkook confessed, and I giggled, as I imagined his veiny hand moving up and down his erection, his hips thrusting against his grip, the little hisses which left his mouth before he moaned my name.

“Do you want to go on a date with me?” I blurted out when Jungkook’s lips left my mouth, as he desperately wanted to mark my skin. Gently, Jungkook nipped my neck, as he wanted to imprint his feelings on my body. I didn’t mind hickeys, and I was sure that Jungkook wasn’t going to stop with one. No, he’s the type of a guy to mark me everywhere.

“Are you asking me out?” Jungkook inquired, and I purred when I felt his cold breath on the wet skin of my neck. “I should be the one doing that,” he concluded before he returned to his erotic ministrations; his teeth lightly scratched my skin, and his tongue licked the grazed area, and I probably enjoyed it more than I should. “Tomorrow, we’re going on a date.”

“You’re so hot when you’re so controlling,” I admitted honestly, and if Jungkook didn’t believe me, my wet panties could confirm that I indeed meant my words. “Which is strange because I hate being bossed around,” I added, and Jungkook grinned as he looked up, innocently pecking my lips.

“I wanna be inside of you already,” Jungkook whined, as he rubbed his erected cock against my sex, showing me how desperate he was to feel me. “I wanna feel how you squeeze around me; I wanna hear you scream my name when I make you come.”

“Jungkook, I…” and when I was about to tell him that I wanted him to take me on that kitchen counter, the oven started to ring, signalizing that the pizza was ready. As soon as we realized that the oven just cockblocked us, we began to laugh. “I think it’s a sign that we shouldn’t be doing that,” I said as I pushed him away and jumped off the counter, so I could take the pizza out of the oven before it would burn.

“I highly doubt that,” Jungkook answered as he sat down by the table, watching me bend over. “Your ass is amazing by the way,” he spoke in admiration, but I only rolled my eyes, even though I was flattered that he visually liked my butt.

“Thank you, but if you think that flattery with help you get into my pants, then you’re right,” I said playfully, as I put on mittens and placed the tin-ware on the stove. “But in your case, I think you could do all of the worst things to me, and I’d still let you fuck me, Jeon.”

“I’m honored to hear that you’re whipped for me,” Jungkook said casually, still observing my moves. “What kinky things would you let me do to you?”

“Probably all of them,” I said as I sat astride on his muscular thighs. “Wow, your muscles are no joke. Let me guess; you never skip the leg day, do you?” I asked him while playing with his hair as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

“I actually do sometimes, but usually it’s when you wanna hang out,” Jungkook admitted, as he grabbed my butt and pulled me closer, so his dick was pressed against my clothed entrance. I was feeling him through the fabric, and it felt absolutely erotic – if he would bury his cock inside of me, I’d probably squeeze around him immediately. “You’re the sole reason why I slack off sometimes.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea I’m such a bad influence,” I whispered into his ear, rubbing my sex against his throbbing cock. “So… are you hungry? The pizza tastes the best when it’s right out of the oven,” I said, mentioning the food, but Jungkook ignored my proposition, as he was dead set on devouring me.

“It looks and smells delicious, but I fancy something else,” Jungkook stated, and I leaned forward to peck his swollen lips to shut him up. He didn’t want to eat me out, did he? I didn’t mind, I knew what his tongue could do, but more than anything, I was desperate to feel his cock fill me. “I’m so hard, baby,” Jungkook hissed, as he cupped his dick.

“Do you want me to suck you off?” I asked sounding unfittingly innocent what really threw him off for a while. Slowly, I slid off his thighs, waiting for him to stop me if he didn’t want to. Just as I expected, Jungkook didn’t protest, he only admired me when I got on my knees between his legs. “It’s my first time, so don’t expect a pro,” I warned him when I cupped his crotch through the material of his jeans. The moment my hand gently squeezed his erection, Jungkook let out a hushed moan of pleasure.

“That’s right, baby. Touch me,” Jungkook breathed out, and I obediently undid the button of his jeans and pulled the zipper down. Biting my lips, I grabbed the hem of his trousers and yanked them down to his calves.

Apparently, Jungkook’s a boxers kind of guy. His budge was impressive, and I couldn’t wait until I’d see what’s hidden under the material. Having licked my lips, I leaned forward to press my lips against his clothed erection. Jiwoo had told me a few months ago that guys liked a little bit of teasing, and it appears that, Jungkook likes it, too.

“You know how to tease me very well for someone who has never done it,” Jungkook nonchalantly commented, but I just shrugged. I wanted to taste him, and I didn’t want to engage in useless conversation with him.

“You will change your mind when I graze your dick with my teeth,” I said jokingly, but Jungkook panicked even if it was for about a second.

“I think I like you too much to get seriously mad at you,” Jungkook admitted, and I smiled shyly, hoping not to blush at his strange confession. With my eyes trained on his erection, I freed his cock out of the boxers, giving it a few delicate strokes. “Oh, your hands are so cold,” Jungkook hissed, kicking his head backward.

“Hints are very much appreciated,” I added, reminding him it was my first time stroking and blowing a man, so if he had any pointers for me, I’d gladly use them.

“You can squeeze your hand a bit tighter, I barely feel your touch, and it drives me insane,” Jungkook instructed me, and I followed his tips, making him bite his bottom lip, as he tried to remain cool. “You can spit on it, you know,” he added, but I ignored him this time, deciding to lick his cock from its base all up to its tip instead.

“Shit,” Jungkook cursed, shutting his eyes close. “Just put it in your mouth already,” Jungkook urged, and I wrapped my mouth around the tip of his cock just as he demanded. “Oh, yeah, just like that,” Jungkook panted out, enjoying the way I ran my tongue around the tip while simultaneously squeezing his balls.

“I’m so turned out right now,” I moaned, feeling excitement flare up inside of me. “I’m so wet for your thick cock,” I added before I once again put his cock into my mouth, this time taking more of him. His response was immediate; although he was trying to stay still because of my lack of experience, he couldn’t stop himself from buckling his hips up, desperate to fuck my throat.

“OK, that’s enough,” Jungkook whispered, as I probably did something wrong. Well…, if anything, it was his fault – he was thrusting into my mouth when I was evidently not prepared for it. “It’s my turn to take care of you; don’t you think?” He added as he offered me his hand to help me stand up.

“You want to eat me out?”

“Damn straight I do,” Jungkook answered quickly, as he jumped up to his feet in front of me and threw me over his shoulder. “You remember that drinking game we played? I’m gonna prove to you how mind-blowing head I give,” he added and spanked my butt playfully.

“If I knew that my choice would hurt your ego so much, I’d just point at Hoseok,” I answered, trying to refrain myself from giggling. The situation was ridiculous; Jungkook was trying to prove me wrong, although I had no doubts in his skills.

Quickly, Jungkook stepped out of his boxers, leaving them behind on the kitchen floor as he carried me to his bedroom.

“To be completely honest, I thought of eating you out ever since,” Jungkook admitted as he placed me on his bed carefully. “How you would moan my name, how you would arch your back and buckle into my face,” he continued, and I hid my face behind my hands too embarrassed to look at him. “Is it too much?”

Hesitantly, I lowered my hands to look at him; Jungkook was sitting on the other side of the bed, staring at me. He looked incredibly nervous, and I couldn’t believe it was me who made him stressed like that. It was just me; he didn’t have to worry about what I was thinking.

“What are you talking about? It’s nothing compared to what I was thinking,” I stated confidently, trying to ease the tension between us. “Maybe I wasn’t pining for you as long as you were for me, but my thoughts are way kinkier. You don’t have to be embarrassed in front of me,” I explained, and with that, Jungkook surged forward, getting on top of me, kissing my breath away.

“You’re too great to be real,” he whispered when he pulled away for a second. Before I managed to reply, his lips returned to my mouth, while his hands started to once again roam around my body. Jungkook completely dominated the kiss, and I moaned into his mouth when he squeezed my breast and rubbed his erection against me.

“Just fuck me, Jeon. I don’t care if it’s your cock, tongue or fingers. I just have to feel you, please,” I urged me, as grinding my sex against him wasn’t the best sign of what I wanted him to do. Kissing him was beyond amazing, but my pussy was throbbing for his attention.

“I just love how needy you are,” Jungkook whispered as he kissed my neck, undoing my trousers, pushing his hand under the hem of my panties. “And your pussy is drenched,” he stated matter-of-factly, as he began to rub my juices across my clit.

“Yes,” I breathed out, pushing my hips upwards, wanting him to apply more force. “Oh my God, Jungkook, please, more,” I moaned, hoping that my desperate cries for pleasure would make him stop teasing me.

“Undress,” Jungkook ordered, and I quickly grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head, while Jungkook yanked my jeans and panties down my legs, tossing them on the floor. “You look even better than I imagined,” Jungkook admitted before he leaned forward, placing delicate kisses on my stomach, down to my sex.

Firmly, his large hand held my hips in one place. With one last look at me, Jungkook dived in, shaking my world upside down with his tongue. All of his attention was focused on my clit, he massaged it, tugged it and swirled his tongue around it.

Though it was my first time when a guy went down on me, I could tell that Jungkook was amazing; I enjoyed it more than all of my past intimate endeavors. Unlike all the other men I had been with, Jungkook wasn’t only a taker. He gave so much from himself, while at the same time; he wasn’t trying to force me into returning the pleasure. He was perfect.

“You’re so hot,” Jungkook praised me before he started to fuck me with his tongue; it was so nice, I thought I could easily come on his mouth. “I could bet that I could make you come with my fingers,” he added smugly, as he inserted his middle finger inside my pussy.

“I’m not going to bet when I know I’m gonna lose,” I replied genuinely, as I had no intention to boost his ego even more. My desperate moans already stroked it a bit too much.

“Shame,” Jungkook spoke before he started to suck on my clit while curling his fingers inside of me, as he tried to make me come around his fingers.

“You’ve proven your point, Jeon. You’re amazing at giving head,” I said, as I gripped the sheets when Jungkook’s fingers found my sweet spot. “But I really want to come around your cock. Jungkook, please, I want to feel your cock inside of me.”

“Is it weird that it turns me on when you call me Jeon?” Jungkook asked as he pulled out, once again getting on top of me, placing his chin between my breasts.

“No, it’s not, Jeon,” I answered, watching his reaction when I called him by his surname. He didn’t lie, he evidently enjoyed it. “Is it weird that I want you to fill my pussy with cum and then make me come with your fingers with your cum inside of me?”

“A bit,” Jungkook admitted, and I giggled along with him. “But shit, now when you said it, I want to do that,” he added, and I smirked, glad that he didn’t find my fantasy too weird for him. “So… how do you want me to fuck your pussy?”

“I was wondering if I could ride your dick.”

“Baby, this seat is yours,” Jungkook said, as he lay beside me, letting me climb on top of him.

“Take off your shit, I wanna see these abs you’ve been working on,” I commanded, and Jungkook complied, showing off his beautiful muscles. Admiring the view in front of me, I reached behind my back to unhook my bra, releasing my breast.

“Do you like it?” He asked, but instead of answering him, I just grind my pussy against his throbbing cock. “You love it,” he concluded, tensing his muscles, so when I touched them, they were hard as rocks.

“I do, but I’d still like you if you weren’t ripped,” I admitted before I managed to bite my tongue. We had confessed to each other before, but it had never been that direct.

“And I’d still like you if you were just as ripped as I am,” Jungkook jested, and I rubbed him harder, excited to finally feel him inside of me. “Ride me.”

Slowly, I grabbed his cock and aligned it with my entrance, carefully sinking down onto it. He was thick, and despite being incredibly wet, I still was tight for his cock.

“Oh my God,” Jungkook moaned when my walls stretched around his length. “It feels so good,” he added, as he gently moved his hips, and I moaned, loving the feeling of him inside of me. It felt like heaven.”You’re so warm.”

At first, I rocked my hips slowly, but gradually I increased the pace. His cock was filling me so good, and whenever I sank down on it, I let a loud moan.

“Yes, baby,” Jungkook hissed, as he sat up. With his fingers digging into my flesh, he helped me reach the tempo which satisfied us both. “You’re so hot,” he added again, as he pressed his lips against my skin between my breasts. “You will make me come ridiculously fast,” Jungkook said, and I giggled in between desperate gasps for air.

My stamina was nonexistent when compared to Jungkook’s.

“Oh my God, yes!” I screamed when Jungkook hand rubbed my clit. “Fuck,” I panted, picking my pace, riding him using the last bits of my energy. My walls started to hiss around Jungkook’s throbbing cock, and judging by a multitude of hushed breaths which left his mouth, Jungkook was close too.

“Please, don’t stop,” Jungkook begged, as he began to thrust from underneath me. He was desperate to reach his orgasm, and I couldn’t wait to hear him shout my name when he’d release his load inside of me. “I’m coming, I’m coming, shit,” Jungkook loudly whined as he came, milking my walls with his sticky cum.

“Please, don’t stop!” I shouted as I continued to chase my release. “Fuck, Jungkook, I feel so good,” I said before the wave of pleasure surged through me, making me scream his name and arch my back. It was by far the best orgasm of my life.

“It was amazing,” Jungkook said as he kissed my temple, watching me descend slowly on the ground after the blissful peak. “You are amazing,” he added, but I only wrapped my arms around him, hiding my face in the crook of his neck.

“We have to keep doing that,” I commented, feeling incredibly euphoric. “I had no idea that sex could be this good,” I added while absentmindedly caressing his sweaty chest.

“I had no idea I’m this good,” Jungkook teased, and I lightly hit him. He was getting too smug for his own good. “So, you wanted another round, is that right?” Jungkook asked as he pulled out his cock, letting his jizz slowly leak out of my pussy. “It’s a lot of cum.”

“I know what I said, and I’m still turned on when I think about it, but now, I can only think about a hot shower,” I explained, even though I suspected Jungkook to be disappointed with me changing my mind so quickly. “Are you mad?”

“Are you kidding me?” Jungkook asked me as he propped on his elbow to be able to look at me properly. “I could never be mad at you.” He stated, pecking my forehead. “We’ll have a quick shower, and then, we’ll eat your pizza.”

“I like that plan.”

“I am not finished,” he said, making me curious about his plans. “Tomorrow, before our date I’m giving you two orgasms,” Jungkook proposed, and I eagerly nodded my head. “And another two orgasms after our date.”

“That’s crazy.”

“No, it would be crazy if I wanted to make you come during the date.”

“You’re crazy,” I corrected myself, trying my best not to giggle.

“Maybe a little bit.”

[subharryempire]

Hello! We hope you enjoy this mpreg Harry fic rec that includes over 60+ fics. Please remember to give authors comments and kudos for their amazing work. Happy reading!

1. seeing blind by [ Justalittlebitlonely ] (2k)

A couple of years ago, Harry had been sure he was going to end his life mateless and alone, because no one would mate a Blind omega. Besides, he knew he wasn’t a typical omega. He was too tall, voice too deep, limbs too big and gangly. Maybe as an alpha he could have a chance to find someone, but as an omega , no alpha would want to mate him. But life had proven him wrong.

2. The Nearness of You by [ theweightofmywords ] (2k)

Harry and Louis' baby is due any moment. Harry just wants pretty toenails, and Louis just wants to help. 

3. Piece by Piece by [ @sadaveniren ] (3k)

He rubbed his hand over his lower stomach and closed his eyes. Louis was going to lose his fucking mind.

(aka Harry tells Louis he's pregnant and it goes as expected)

4. Baby, You're My Only Reason by [ FallingLikeThis ] (3k)

Louis worries about becoming a father.His pregnant husband, Harry, eases his worries without even realizing he's doing it.

5. Louis Baby, Hurry Down The Chimney Tonight by [ lgbtwinks ] (4k)

Harry looked so beautiful next to the fireplace playing with Danny on the rug. The dim light from the fireplace softly enhanced his jawline and pretty cheekbones. Harry looked like a proper mum playing with the kids.

In which Louis and Harry celebrate Christmas with their four kids and all Louis wants is to get laid.

6. I hate to Love you by [ brainwaves, Thingssicant ] (5k)

Louis froze in place, eyes widening and heart dropping to his stomach. There’s no way he heard that right.

“Poor boy lost this opportunity over a bit of fun with some boy. But that just means good news for you, captain!” the coach continued enthusiastically, expecting Louis to respond in kind but Louis was barely processing his words.

“I-I’m sorry, what did you say before? He’s pregnant? As in having a baby?”

“Not sure pregnant can mean anything else, son, but yes,”

Or, Harry and Louis are co Captains with a love/hate relationship.

7. Short Steps, Deep Breaths (Everything Is Alright) by [ Sugartitstyles ] (5k)

"Harry are you okay?” Harry shook his head sighing softly. “I’ve been getting sick a lot lately. Anything can trigger my vomiting it seems.” Cher giggled and nodded. “What’s so funny?” “Nothing really, just reminds me when I had David. The morning sickness for your first child is terrible. I don’t remember Gemma suffering that bad while we were in school though. Must of skipped her lucky.” Harry just sat quietly in shock. “Cher, I love you and all but you are talking nonsense. There is no way I can get pregnant.” “You never know Harry, stranger things have happened.”

Or the one where Harry ends up pregnant on the night of his collage graduation after riding louis.

8. A Hand to Hold and a Hand Held by [ @londonfoginacup ] (5k)

When Harry goes to the One Direction concert one year with his sister, he doesn’t expect to go home with the amazing Louis Tomlinson himself.

But then, he really doesn’t expect that night to have an impact on the rest of his life either.

9. Right Here Waiting by [ @chloehl10 ] (5k)

Louis and Harry are expecting a baby. Harry's heavily pregnant and nesting madly, determined to make their home ready for their baby.

10. Take My Medicine by [ @sadaveniren ] (5k)

Louis came over to Harry’s side of the bed and gave him a hello kiss. Kissing Harry always felt like coming home. From their first kiss at fourteen and sixteen he’d known that there would be no one else for him. And now, decades later, he still knew that was true.

----

AKA a sequel to Answer All Your Wishes featuring fluff, filth, and more fluff

11. Wear A Necklace Of Hope (Side By Side With Me) by [  sweaterpawstyles ] (5k)

"Lou," Harry's voice was high-pitched and small. He was so small. Everything about him seemed so fragile and Louis was terrified he would break him. He knew it was too late though. Louis couldn't break him because Harry was already broken. Or

A Hunger Games AU about Louis and Harry's life as victors in District 4

12. Forever and Always by [ tomlinbum ] (6k)

“I want a lot of kids,” Harry slurs. He's sitting on Louis's dick right now, riding Louis slowly and at his own pace.

“Okay, baby,” Louis says, petting his hip.

Harry pouts. “I mean it – I want, want so many baby Tommos running around the house, wrecking havoc just like their Daddy.”

Or the one where Harry meets the love of his life at 16. This follows the years following their meet.

13. Zero Means Nothing When I'm With You by [ WhiteClifford ] (6k)

Louis doesn't know what he's looking for until he finds it.

Harry just knows he may defy his gender norms, with his height and clumsiness, but that doesn't mean he doesn't want litters of pups running around while he does domestic things all day long.

In other words, boy meets boy and no one can stop pining.

14. honey and i by [ itiswhatitisbutterfly ] (6k)

AU very loosely based on Marley and Me, Louis takes his friends advice and buys Harry a puppy to quell his desires to start a family. However the puppy turns them into a family with out them really knowing.

15. To Carry Love by [ @dimpled-halo ] (7k)

During One Direction’s hiatus, Harry becomes unexpectedly pregnant, and Louis does his best at becoming the most supportive husband he can be.

16. Oh Baby, It's You by [ leedsbracelet ] (7k)

Harry wants a baby, and he intends on having one.

17. I heard this life is overrated, But I hope that it gets better as we go by [ louisnuggets ] (7k)

"Harry this is not something we're going to argue about. I decided to do it. It's a sure thing." Harry remembered his words. The sure look in Louis eyes, the way he balled his fists, the way he talked. His Alpha voice coming through. Everything. How could he ever forget? It was one of the worst days of his life. After Harry's heat, which included five days of a lot of orgasms and even more cum, Louis and Harry had been laying in bed. Louis' knot slowly loosening in Harry. Harry's back against Louis' chest. Harry was sated and happy until Louis threw the bomb. "Baby I have to leave again. Longer this time. I know you don't like this but this is really important for my career." Some may think, what's so horrible about that? But Harry knew what that meant. It meant Louis would leave.

18. Baby, Honey by [ @chloehl10 ] (7k)

Harry's been talking about sex and babies on stage too much for Louis' liking, so he decides to give him what he wants...

Or the one with the aftermath of Harry's Detroit concert...

19. The King's Omega by [ HunterMay18 ] (8k)

An omega with a really dark past becomes the King's new love interest.

20. yes, you make my life worthwhile by [ tomorrows ] (9k)

Harry whispers to him that this feels like every dream he’s had for the last three years and Louis kisses his temple, behind his ear, across his cheeks and by the edge of his jaw. He runs the back of his finger across Winnie’s sleep-warm cheeks and sighs, the weight of the world finally off his shoulder.

Louis' a pediatrician, Harry's a preschooler teacher, and they're having a baby.

21. Still believe in magic, oh yes I do by [ lookingforparadise ] (9k)

Harry and Louis are the greatest power couple in town. Louis plays football. Harry is pregnant.

22. Another Constellation to Trace by [ @screwstyles ] (11k)

Mpreg AU: Louis and Harry bet on who can keep Harry's pregnancy a secret for longer. Neither of them is particularly good at it, and it doesn't help that their soulmate tattoos make it even harder.

23. As young as we are by [ quitefinishedlove ] (11k)

A familiar pair of worn out Vans suddenly stops, catching onto Harry’s peripheral vision that he had to snap his head back just to face the person.

And there stood Harry’s ‘Baby Daddy’. God, he already hates that term.

(or, Louis and Harry are still in high school; Louis is mister Popular and Harry is the innocent kid that no one notices or really likes. They occasionally hook up in secret, but it supposedly doesn't mean anything. But then Harry, of course, ends up getting pregnant.)

24. To the Moon by [ @chelsea-frew ] (11k)

University students Harry and Louis have an arrangement--they are friends with benefits. When Harry accidentally becomes pregnant, however, they need to redefine their relationship. Do they want to keep things the way they are, or are they ready for something more?

25. Commitments by [ @chelsea-frew ] (11k)

An AU loosely based on the movie 27 Dresses. Harry is a fan of weddings, and Louis writes about weddings. They have sex, create a baby, then meet. Can they straighten themselves out after doing things completely out of order?

26. to change how you see and what you believe by [ jaerie ] (12k)

Harry and Louis are best friends who just happen to fall into bed with each other sometimes, it's not a big deal. After a drunken night of discussing their kinks, they wake up naked together. They don't remember what happened, but they've done it before and they'll probably do it again, but five months later, a surprise changes everything.

or an I didn't know I was pregnant au

27. Leap of Fate by [ @happilylouie ] (12k)

After one too many failed dates, Harry decides he’s had enough. He is going to start a family on his own, everything falls into place as Harry finds the perfect donor. But when Harry realizes who the donor actually is it hits him like a curveball. He wants Louis Tomlinson to be involved in his baby’s life, but first he has to figure out a way to date him.

28. shut your mind off (and let your heart hear me) by [ BeHappily ] (13k)

Harry wants Louis for a while, Louis wants Harry forever, but emotions and a little human get in their way.

Or, an AU where Louis is a single father to cute twins, Harry is a ballet dancer who doesn't want any relationship, and they foolishly become friends with benefits, but maybe it wasn't so bad after all.

29. you fit me better than my favorite sweater by [ brightbluelou ] (13k)

Harry didn’t mean to fall in love with his best friend, and he definitely didn’t mean to get pregnant. Despite that, it’s probably still the best thing that’s ever happened to him. And after that, well. It just kept getting better.

30. Brand New Life by @chelsea-frew (13k)

Harry Styles is one of nineteen children and has been sheltered all his life. After his best friend Niall Horan introduces him to the joy that is the three-man band known as One Direction, Harry is hooked. When Niall gets them tickets to a One Direction concert, Harry gets more than just a good time dancing to great music.

31. So Long I’ve Been Waiting by [ @flamboyantommo ] (13k)

the one where Harry and Louis are having their first baby, and keeping it a secret until the end of the first trimester is a lot harder than they thought it would be.

32. Answer All Your Wishes by [ @sadaveniren ] (13k)

Harry and Louis met when Harry was thirteen and as first impressions go theirs was memorable enough to start a life long romance.

AKA a Tom Fletcher/Giovanna Fletcher AU where Louis is part of One Direction, Harry is the love of his life who blogs, and they have many, many children.

33. there's something in the water by [ curlyfries ] (13k)

Harry and Louis met when Harry was in the middle of a rough patch after he injured himself during a tennis competition. After a night that Harry can't forget, he's met with a little surprise a couple of months later. It's a bit of a shock, especially considering how he got there, but he's determined to see it through. He's all prepared to do it all alone too, but running into Louis again might change the game.

Cue dates, happiness and cuddles, but Harry can't get the fact that he needs to tell Louis out of his mind. He's got his fingers crossed that it all works out.

34. Made From Love by [ @chloehl10 ] (14k)

It's almost Christmas, and amongst the preparations, Louis' realised something about his husband Harry.

Harry, however, seems to be oblivious.

Louis' determined to open Harry's eyes and make him realise the real magic that's happening this Christmas...

35. The Sunshine Stays by [ @becomeawendybird ] (15k)

It’s three years after One Direction got back together, and Harry and Louis have just come off a world tour. They’re enjoying a much more relaxed schedule the second time around, allowing themselves to bask in married life. Until, one day, Louis surprises Harry on vacation, and there are some surprising consequences.

36. On His Way Home by [ @stnbutterflies ] (16k)

Or the one where Harry is set up on a blind date with his sister’s best friend’s brother

37. I'll Be Your Light by [ mightaswellll ] (17k)

Harry Styles always had a crush on his sister's best friend Louis Tomlinson. Moving in with them should be a good way to get over it, right?

38. If the Surface Begs You Home by [ @becomeawendybird ] (17k)

Harry is a mermaid from the underwater kingdom of Mercadia who is a little too fascinated by life above the surface. He's kicked out of his home after he winds up pregnant, and has to figure out how to make his way in the world. Louis is the darling of the small neighbouring seaside village who came home after university to take over their local library, and can't seem to stay away from the mysterious pregnant mermaid his friends introduce him to.

39. the sweetest devotion by [ itiswhatitisbutterfly ] (18k)

Harry loved Louis at 18 when he couldn’t afford to take him on a date, at 21 when he spent all his time trying to make it and now he adores every part of him as he professionally lives his dream every single day. And he will love him no matter how long trying for a baby will take them and every day after.

40. we come in line by [ starsinoureyes ] (19k)

Harry decides to have a baby on his own, Louis doesn't agree it's a good idea but lets him do it anyway. It took seven years and Harry getting artificially inseminated for them to find each other. Louis has a secret he didn't tell Harry and it might affect their family. Also featuring: a pre-pregnancy party, fertility clinics and pregnancy scares.

-based on the movie The Switch (2010)

41. Magic Everywhere We Go by [ @casuallyhl ] (19k)

Fifteen years after first meeting Louis at a mutual friend’s birthday party, Harry is just as in love with his husband as he was on their wedding day. And with the birth of each new child, Harry seems to have only grown to love him more.

And now Harry is spending four days at the happiest place on earth with all of his favorite people – his mum and stepdad, his four beautiful children, and his perfect husband.

Life couldn’t get any better than this.

Or, Harry and Louis go on holiday with their family to Disney World.

42. wrapped in light, in life, in love by [ tomorrows ] (19k)

It should be embarrassing — it is a bit embarrassing, actually, because he can feel Lila watching over him like a hawk, but Louis’ got a palm on his thigh and there’s a cherry red lollipop in his hand and Harry feels so bloody dizzy with butterflies. He brings the lollipop to his mouth and sure enough, the sweet cherry flavor feels more therapeutic than anything, like it’s made from warm hugs and naps by the fireplace. He’s too busy falling in love all over again to be embarrassed.

“S’good, innit?”

Harry nods his head. He feels like a child, but it’s okay because Louis is there and he’s staring right at him, blue eyes consumed by Harry before him. Being at the center of Louis’ attention is just as overwhelming as Harry remembers it being fifteen years ago.

Of all the things to happen while taking care of his niece for a month, falling in love with his boyhood crush all over again is probably the highlight of Harry’s autumn.

Well. That, and getting pregnant.

43. Second Time's the Charm by [ @chelsea-frew ] (21k)

The first time Louis sees the new barista at his favourite coffee shop, he falls head over heels. The first time he takes the barista, Harry, home, they end up making something a little bit more than conversation. Suddenly, it seems to Louis that Harry is keeping secrets. He is. Two life-changing secrets. When Harry lets Louis in on these secrets, Louis needs to decide whether to let them change his life--or not.

44. Weigh Us Down (We're In Love) (23k)

Harry’s eyes widen slightly at that. “We’re friends?”

Louis nods eagerly, smiling even wider. “Of course we are! You’re like, my first ever friend here. We just moved in, you see. Did I already tell you about that? Anyway! Maybe you can stay for dinner and I can show you my toys?”

Harry smiles. “You’ll let me play with you?”

Louis nods again, excited. “Of course!” He looks thoughtful for a moment, and then he’s slipping off the couch and crouching in front of Harry. “Oh, and Mum always kisses my wounds after she fixes them up. It makes me feel loads better all the time, so.” He leans forward and puckers his lips, pressing them over the bandage on Harry’s knee.

(harry and louis first meet when they’re eight and ten. this is their story throughout the years.)

45. there's a love and it grows (there's a life that we share) by [ felixandtae ] (23k)

“Yeah, we made a cute baby,” Louis said, tucking Harry’s hair behind his ear. “I’m so glad I met you.”

Harry said sheepishly, "I’m so glad I went to that party. Even if I don’t remember much of it, our baby is like a little match maker. I can’t believe I have a baby with a guy I’ve been crushing on for so long.”

“Oh, so long? And how long was this crush?” Louis teased, smirking as he saw Harry’s cheeks flush red.

Or where Harry and Louis are strangers (not really) who had a one night stand at a party and end up having a baby together.

46. Seven is Heaven by [ @chelsea-frew ] (25k)

Louis and Harry find themselves unexpectedly (but very happily) adding to their family. 

47. Somewhere In Between Who I Used to Be and Who I'll Be Tomorrow by [ ShapeOfLou ] (27k)

After landing his dream job of being a TV host, Harry Styles thinks he has it all, a nice job, luxury cars, designer clothes, and a stable relationship with a man he loves. That is, until he makes the drunken mistake of going home with the cute bartender which results in an unexpected pregnancy. With a baby on the way, Harry has to balance his work life with deciding how he wants to spend the rest of his life: with the man he's been with for years or the father of his child.

48. A Perfect Reason by [ @chelsea-frew ] (29k)

During a visit to a charity he'd like to support, Prince Louis--next in line to the throne of the United Kingdom--meets Harry, the man of his dreams. Trouble is, Louis is not out, and the law says his heirs can only be born of a woman. Louis is determined not to let that stop his pursuit of Harry. His determination doubles when Harry accidentally becomes pregnant. He and Harry will have their little family--and change the monarchy while they're at it.

49. here comes the sun by [ tomorrows ] (30k)

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Louis promises, his pink, chapped lips moving slowly in the cold. It matches the beanie on his head—pink, because they found out this morning that they’re having a girl and that’s just.

Harry’s going to be a dad. To a little girl. Five months from now he’ll be holding her in his arms, and she’ll be so lovely and small.

They’re going to have a spring baby and she’s probably going to have Louis’ eyes. What a blessing that would be. Harry crosses his fingers on the hand inside his pocket, hoping that she does. He’ll love her either way—blue or green or even brown eyes, it doesn’t matter—but he’d really like them to be blue, he thinks.

[Harry is a pediatric specialist, Louis is a neurosurgeon. All they want is a baby.]

50. Something Just Like This by [ kiwikero ] (31k)

Newspaper intern Harry Styles can't believe his luck when he goes from fetching coffee for his boss to writing about London's own superheroes, One Direction. Even better, he gets to spend time with the unfairly handsome Freefall, also known as Louis Tomlinson. Louis, who is way out of Harry's league and far too busy for a proper relationship—so how on earth is Harry supposed to tell him they're expecting?

51. Little Wonder by [ @sweariwouldnt ] (33k)

A mistake, or perhaps a well-thought out fluke of fate, results in Harry and Louis welcoming their first child. This is how it all goes down.

52. Destinies Miracle by [ whathappenedinwellington ] (33k)

Harry and Louis have been married for 22 years and are the proud parents of 4 beautiful children. At the age of 47, Harry unexpectedly falls pregnant-- an extremely rare occurrence given his age. The family of 6 are faced with challenges and decisions once unimaginable as Harry carries the baby to full term despite all odds against him.

53. Baby, What A Big Surprise by [ @icanhazzlou ] (33k)

Or, the one where shy, quiet Harry has no idea he’s a carrier, and a one night stand with the most popular boy in school shows him just how wrong he was.

Featuring Lottie as Harry’s best friend, Niall as her boyfriend, and, of course, Louis as the popular boy with a soft spot for his little sister’s quirky friend.

54. Party of Five by [ @chelsea-frew ] (34k)

Six years after their twin girls were born, Harry and Louis find themselves expecting another bundle of joy! Ups, downs, excitement, and worry follow the news as the family of four prepares to get just a little bit bigger.

55. love is so good when the love is young by [ drunkonyou ] (38k)

Louis falls for his pregnant best friend who has a bit of baggage. They make it work though.

56. We Got The World Shaking by [ FutureMrsHaroldStyles ] (39k)

Suddenly Louis is taking Harry’s hand in his own and turns to his sister. “I’m taking him to my room. Don’t worry I’m going to take care of him. Now go and enjoy your party, little sis!” And with that Louis leads Harry to the elevator. The thoughts in Harry’s head are going wild but they all come down to Fuck am I really gonna spend my heat with Louis Tomlinson?

Or the one where Harry goes into heat at his best friend Lottie's birthday party and her big brother helps him out.

57. Fallen Far From the Tree by [ @sadaveniren ] (41k)

Harry and Louis go through the ups and ups of pregnancy.

58. everywhere (i wanna be with you) by [ itiswhatitisbutterfly ] (42k)

Harry and Louis meet because they have terrible friends, they fall in love because something feels right in a world of uncertainty and shifting grounds. Louis is an actor and Harry is a model at the top of his game, the best things in life are the most unexpected ones and the things that hit you when you are least expecting it.

Featuring winter in London, nights in Paris, early mornings in New York, burning heat in Monte Carlo and an enduring love spent transcending four corners of the globe.

59. I'll Be Here Waiting on Forever by [ sweaterpawstyles ] (46k)

Harry made Louis feel like he was walking on air. He was beautiful in every way and it constantly amazed Louis. His eyes could melt Louis' heart at a single glance, his soft hands made Louis' heart race with a simple touch, and the words from his cherry red lips were so captivating that Louis held onto everything he said. There was a constant buzz in Louis' veins when Harry gave him that look, the look that spoke more than words ever could. It was a soft fond that Louis fell in love with so easily. Too easily.

Louis was in love with the boy he could never have and show off to the world. Or A Romeo and Juliet AU where Louis is an alpha prince who falls in love with Harry, an omega prince from the neighboring kingdom

60. Temporary Fix by [ HazzaMyLou ] (49k)

Harry's been hurt too many times before and doesn't want to fall in love. Louis doesn't believe in love and doesn't want to settle down. But a chance meeting, a drunken night, and a pregnancy test might change their plans.

61. Hideaway. by [ arrowtomyheart ] (52k)

Harry is in a borderline abusive relationship which ends after the news that Harry's pregnant. He is homeless for the night and travels 3 hours on the train to turn up at his best friend's Liam's house unexpectedly for somewhere to stay. He meets Louis, Liam's flatmate, and they discover that they have more in common that anyone would expect. They fall in love.

62. In Any Universe by [ @chelsea-frew ] (55k)

Harry and Louis are happy. Yes, they are closeted, but they love each other and love their jobs as members of One Direction. Their happiness is shattered when they are in a car accident and Louis wakes up having forgotten the last five years of his life. He doesn't remember being on The X-Factor, being a part of One Direction or, most devastating, Harry. Estranged from the love of his life when Louis retreats to what he does remember, Harry discovers that he's pregnant. What will he do if Louis doesn't recover his memory, and he's faced with being a single parent? What will he do without Louis?

63. Smokescreen by [ Arvernii ] (57k)

Louis rules the school; guys want to be him, girls want to do him. He's the coolest guy in school and if you don't agree with him, his crew will make you change your mind. Spending most of his afternoons smoking cigarettes while on the back of his motorcycle, Louis has it all: popularity, money, fear and respect. However his bad-boy image is just a smokescreen, when a new out and proud gay student named Harry suddenly shows up, everything is immediately thrown into chaos.

What is the price of love?

64. Two + Two = Four by [ @chelsea-frew ] (58k)

In the middle of the Where We Are Tour, Harry and Louis find themselves feeling a little amorous after attending Louis' mum's wedding. After indulging in some unprotected sex on an L.A. beach, Harry ends up pregnant, expecting twins just weeks after the end of their On the Road Again Tour.

Not only do the boys find themselves facing the daunting prospect of becoming parents at the height of their fame--not to mention during a worldwide stadium tour--but the boys are still closeted. Their lives are about to change, but though the changes are stressful, and the road is just a bit rough, they can't wait to welcome their twins into the world.

65. Baby We Could Be Enough by [ @chloehl10 ] (74k)

Harry Styles has always wanted a family, but his boyfriend doesn’t. When an unexpected pregnancy leaves Harry feeling alone and terrified, he feels he has no choice but to give up his baby. He finds a family with the adoptive parents, and maybe something more. ~ Louis Tomlinson and his wife, Jess, have been trying for a baby for years. Their hasty marriage after they first got pregnant has only led to a series of miscarriages that have put a strain on their already precarious relationship. When they meet a young man desperate for a home and someone to raise his child, Louis realizes that he may have been moving in the wrong direction all along.

66. One Night Stands by [ benniejets ] (77k)

Harry was always great at making decisions; he never did anything too risky and he never really did anything stupid. He played by all the rules, which led to him living a quiet life. However, one night when he decides to go out with a few friends and have some drinks and randomly hooks up with a man, his specifically planned out life goes to shit.

67. Half A Heart by [ Larry_Darling0124 ] (198k)

Scarlet Marie Styles. Louis didn't know about her. Harry kept her a secret. Scarlet knows he left. * Eight years ago Harry Styles gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Scarlet Marie. Now, at the age of 26, he doesn't expect to run into the only man he ever loved. The man that left him when he needed him most. * Eight years ago Louis Tomlinson made the biggest mistake of his life. Now, at the age of 27, that same mistake just got a whole lot bigger.

68. A Little Love by [ felixandtae ] (220k)

Harry and Louis are best friends, and when Harry's boyfriend breaks up with him, he's instantly depressed. Louis hated seeing him this way, so one thing leads to another and they wind up sleeping together, which causes a lot of problems.

Or, where Harry gets heartbroken, so Louis tries showing him love, but a bump is in the road. Literally.

[mooleche]

Hi hello can I have the latest OTP list for Piotr and Nina? The whole thing? Pretty please?

RIP to anyone on mobile I’ll tag it for y’all I’M SORRY BUT ALSO THANK

1. Acts like they’re dying when they have a cold. Colossus fjkdsks. For all the caretaking he does for others you'd think he'd be okay when catching a cold himself, but he's the biggest dramatic baby when he gets ill. Nina will come in dressed to the nines in protective gear (oven mitts, face mask, looking goofy as hell) to take care of him and inevitably get roped into staying in bed with him so he's not lonely, but he doesn't want her to get sick herself, so it's a constant argument of 'What do you WANT from me?!'.

2. Gets mad at the TV and throws the remote. Neither of them really have a throw the remote reaction. They both moreso get angry and walk off to avoid doing anything drastic, though if Nina is angry enough she'll definitely punch through the tv.3. Gets the worst road rage.Nina. Colossus is usually too big to be behind the wheel so he's shoved in the passenger seat having to calm her down when they're stuck in traffic or behind a slow driver. Have a horn honked at her one too many times though and she WILL get out of the car and tell them where she'll be shoving her foot if they keep it up.4. Spends too much time in the bathroom on their phone. Nina. Colossus isn't one to waste time in places like the restroom and very rarely uses a cellphone in general because he's old fashioned as hell. Nina however will stay in there for as long as she can whether it be to avoid her classmates or to look at memes with Venom for long periods.5. Packs the whole closet for an overnight trip. Colossus. Ya boi like preparing for any and every situation that could possibly happen along with any essentials that Nina might (and does) forget on their trip. You need sunscreen? He's got it. Bandaids? Step aside Momma Bear Colossus came packed and ready with a whole med kit for this exact situation.6. Hates the in-laws. Nina. Colossus loves Ninas parents like they were his own, as the majority of his own family isn't alive anymore. But Nina? She has serious beef with Illyana after being abandoned in Limbo by her for essentially 4 years after getting into a tiff with her. They eventually make up but their relationship is strained because of the incident.7. Hits the snooze button…11 times. Nina. She's a BIG nightowl and often spends nights fighting crime and the only reason she goes to bed at even a remotely decent hour is because of Colossus and how much of an early bird he is. After around the 8th snooze he usually comes in with coffee and forces her out of bed sgksfdjkg8. Makes the other late for work. They both have their own ways of making each other late. Nina because she wants just a little more morning cuddle time or some good morning sex. Colossus because he wants Nina to have a good breakfast for the day ahead or to remind her that she needs to do xyz before leaving ("Did you take your medicine?" "Did you get your chocolate?" "Did you-" 'YES DAD')9. Uses the television as a babysitter. Colossus kjfafkaHe usually only does this method when he needs to distract the teens in the mansion while he needs to talk to someone, but if it works it works!10. Takes in the stray dog. Both of them, hands down. Colossus would probably be more open about it, get the dog groomed and taken to the vet before presenting it to Nina, but Nina being the more clumsy of the two would definitely try (and fail) to hide the dog before Colossus walked in on her trying to give it a pep talk on how it needs to be more sneaky LOL11. Suggests a 3am trip to McDonald’s. Venom kdjkfkaHe wants those fresh 3am hashbrowns!!12. Leaves their shoes out for the other to trip over. Nina. Not on purpose, but just is kind of absentminded with this type of thing and when she gets home she's just concerned about getting her outerwear off and laying on the floor. Colossus is the unfortnate victim of tripping over both her shoes, bag, or even her if it's one of those types of days.13. Can’t make up their mind when it comes to dinner. Nina, mostly because of Venom who's first response is always usually 'TATER TOTS, CHOCOLATE, LIVER!' despite Nina always saying that they can't live off just those three things (ESPECIALLY not the last one).14. Needs to be reminded of all their appointments. Nina. If her head wasn't attached she'd forget where she put it, so Colossus leaves lots of sticky notes and texts for her to remember upcoming appointments (and little cute notes along with them) and on the rare occasion Wade or Fury if it involves 'business' business.15. Bribes the other into doing chores, getting out of the house…and taking a shower. Colossus gjskgjsg Nina can be a bit of a shut-in due to her depression and working on her school work for long periods, so Colossus often tries to bribe her with little things like sweets or even some snoosnoo if it means she'll get up and take a walk outside with him.16. Picks the movies. Colossus usually. Nina was banned after telling him that 'Us' was a romantic comedy.17. Takes the safety steps when building a pillow fort. Colossus, he's a momma hen at heart and wants to make sure the fort is extra fortified for any rough and tumbling they might do inside wink wonk18. Kisses the other’s injuries better. Both. Seeing that they always come back at least a little battered and bruised after their missions they always take a little time to pay extra attention to the injured spots with lots of kisses and shares stories between one another about how they got them before drifting off to sleep.19. Is addicted to angry birds, game of war, candy crush, temple run, or flappy bird. Colossus. He doesn't like to admit it but those games often take his attention and would probably be the only reason he would be stuck in the bathroom on his phone (from the earlier question). The house eventually has an intervention for him when he can't focus on anything else but getting an extra life in Candy Crush djgksgs20. Kills the spiders. Venom eats them before Nina can freak out too bad over them LOL21. Hogs the blankets. Colossus. Since he's so big its not hard for him to tug some of the blanket and end up with the entire thing. This results in Nina forcing him to be the big spoon so even if that happens she still gets to be warm ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ22. Takes pranks too far. Nina for sure. She usually teams up with Bobby (Iceman) or Kurt (Nightcrawler) to pull some silly prank on Cyclops because he's always so uptight about everything that end up going too far which results in her getting scolded quite a bit by both Colossus and Xavier. This doesn’t stop her from continuing to do stupid stuff like making sticky hands to harass her peers from afar.23. Makes the dirty jokes. Nina, though Colossus is known to fire back some dirty jokes of his own at rare moments which often catches her off guard. They even go as far as teaching each other their native languages so that they can do this easier in public places (it really doesn't work though because they both still get super embarrassed when it happens)24. Keeps a piggy bank. Colossus. He usually keeps one as a curse jar and likes putting money in whenever anyone else curses too. Needless to say when Wade was living in the mansion that piggy got very full. He later uses the money to help mutants in need and eventually when he starts dating Nina, to use for what he hopes will later be a nice date or a trip to Paris for them to visit her family.25. Has no problem having ice cream for breakfast. Nina. Especially after a long night of fighting crime, she has no qualms with plopping down in bed with a big bowl of chocolate ice cream for her and Venom to feast on while Colossus looks at them in horror.26. Gets a tattoo when they’re drunk. Colossus. He's lucky they can't aren't permanent because of his metal skin because when he really lets loose he ends up waking up with some really silly tattoos, usually big and gaudy and of a 'mom' heart or his current beau. With Nina being able to control ink though some of the tattoos can only leave if she permits it, which leaves her to be very devious sometimes.27. Trips over their own feet. Nina. She's a mega clutz and often ends up tripping over herself as a result. Luckily she's goofy and can laugh at herself when these things happen, despite wanting to die inside skgjsgs28. Makes the other go for a walk. Both. Be it because of a tiff they had or just to unwind from a long day they usually end up taking long walks at night to decompress and talk about what's on their mind. Despite not being big on PDA Colossus always ends up either holding Ninas hand and/or pulling her in close when they walk because he enjoys being close to her.29. Whines until they get what they want.Nina. She doesn't do it often but when a chocolate hankering kicks in or there's something new she wants to try with Colossus she will pull out all the stops, including latching onto him with her powers until he's too tired to argue gsjgskgs30. Tries to act tough but really isn’t. Colossus. He's got a lot of bark but hates using his bite and will only use it when push comes to shove. Overall he just uses his size to lecture his students when they've done something wrong.

31. Talks the most, says the least. Nina. She can let her words wander quite a bit when she's not focusing on the conversation at hand, but she gets her point across when needed.32. Talks the least, says the most.Colossus. He doesn't talk as much as Nina, but when he does speak his words are short and to the point.

[lordmattuk]

How do you stop being depressed?

Dear God, I wish I knew the answer to that one. I do know that given enough time each bout of depression passes. Sometimes fast; sometimes slow. It is what you do while you wait that makes the difference.

I do not have a story from my life to give you as an answer but here is everything I know about living with depression (in no particular order except item zero):

0. Depression is a liar

Depression tries to say things like, “this is never going to get better, I’m the only one, no one will understand, people will think I am weak…” Thoughts like these are lies depression tells you to keep you down.

Depression is a liar. Do not listen to it.

1. Talking helps

Being honest with friends and family you can trust makes the journey easier. You still have to go through it but know there are people that will listen makes it seem less difficult.

I thought I was the only one that felt the way I did. So I hid it. All through my teenage years, I kept my depression secret. It turned out though that my sister, my dad, and my uncle all faced similar demons.

2. Get rid of stressful people and drama queens

Boy or girl, drama queens just sap the strength you should use to face depression. While it might feel like doing the right thing to help everyone - you cannot save the drowning if you cannot swim yourself. 

A few years ago (on Facebook) started using memes like the one below. The strange thing was the very needy people I was always ploughing all my mental energy into helping just went and found someone else to ask for help. They didn’t want my help, they were addicted to the attention I was giving out. Like vampires sucking my energy away.

For when you are once more stuck between two friends who have (once more) fallen out over something

When they can’t get a hit of sympathy from me, they just go somewhere else and try again.

The result is, I feel healthier and less stressed. Depression is now a little easier to bet without that drag factor.

3. Deal with crap that is bothering you

Nothing powers up your depression like crap you need to deal with but are pretending is not there. Be it a relationship that has to end, a commitment you should withdraw from, a painful memory you need to grieve over, or whatever. Find a safe way to unpack that baggage and leave it behind you.

4. Sleep more

I cannot stress this enough - depression is worse when you are tired. Get a good nights rest. Take naps if you have to. Get good sleep.

5. Give yourself permission to take the day off

Some days I just say screw it to social media, party invites, and housework. I just sit around in my PJs and catch up on Netflix. Not because I am lazy (I am that too but this is not why) but because sometimes I just need to decompress and do something that makes me happy.

A day off for me means not looking at the news (Brexit worries me no end). I disconnect and just live in the moment (which means I watch Netflix or dip into my DVD collection). Sometimes I go out for food or a beer with a good friend.

There have been days where I get up with a low spoon count and no motivation. I take care of whatever will cause pain if not done now and then I chill and so serious amounts of nothing much. You’ll be surprised just how much can be rescheduled.

Of course, if you have a nine to five job, you cannot pull a sick day too often. For that, you will have to get your doctor to sign off on a few days to a week of recovery. Which means telling your doctor what is going on (also a great way to get support).

6. Talk to your doctor

Getting support from your doctor lightens the load. I never would have learned about mindful meditation had I not tried this.

7. People who say “why don’t you just cheer up”.

These people suck. There is not much you can do other than find better friends. They don’t understand and if re-educating them sounds like too much work, find friends that do understand. People who just don’t get it should be carefully managed and kept at a distance.

8. Advice on social media is far from perfect

Remember what I said about talking t your doctor? Doctors are experts. Tumblr users are… Who knows? We’re weirdos on the web. Sometimes we can help but do please double check with an actual expert.

9. Find someone else who is going through the same thing

Being able to explain what you are going through with someone who truly gets it - because they’ve been there - is wonderful. Just knowing you are not alone makes it easier. It beats the lies depression tells you by showing you the truth. That alone makes it all seem much less terrible.

On top of that, you can feel listened to and heard - boy does that help.

Furthermore, you can both share insights on ways to cope. Truly the best part of the deal.

10. It does get better.

Over time, depressions tricks just seem less effective. The cloud is just the same but I seem to be hurt a little less by it each year. The other benefit of getting older is that you can level up in kicking depression to the curb. 

Depression still mounts some nasty attacks sometimes but it has never beaten me for good.

11. Get a cat or dog

This might be me but right now I have a soft warm cat (Molly) laying on me and I feel just a little bit better because of it. 

12. Socialising can help

I’m an introvert but I found that my DnD and Pathfinder games lift my spirits. I’m pretty sure it is the socialisation and not the dragon-slaying that helps. 

That said slaying dragons with a group of people you see every week is most satisfying. Try that too. Seriously, tabletop RPGs are the best.

13. Did I mention how helpful sleep is?

Sometimes a power nap can hot reset on strong or overwhelming feelings. It can just be the case that allowing yourself a short cry and then a nap, lets you get back to your day. That works for me.

14. Music

I have playlists that I use that can help a lot. 

Some are full of songs that recognise negative feelings, pain, and suffering. I find them cathartic. 

Others remind me of times I have had a lot of joy. A surprising number of those are themes from favourite shows.

I’ve no idea if this will work for you but try it out if you get a chance and see if it works for you. Sometimes a good playlist can kick depression right in its stupid face.

15. Rewatch favourite shows

I read somewhere that when we watch shows we are familiar with we enjoy them differently. The stress and release of finding out what will happen are replaced with something similar to the feeling of seeing a treasured friend. Maybe it is just me, but I have some shows I have seen certain seasons of many times.

Some shows (Red Dwarf, Bleach, iZombie, Star Trek DS9, etc.) have episodes that I can quote line for line.

16. Look after your health

Take care of yourself. Show your own self some love and care. I’m not really sure why this helps but it does. Pain, sickness, and generally being run down make coping with depression harder. I guess that I do have a clue about that after all.

Some people find yoga helps. When my body was younger, I liked running. I can’t run now do to an arthritic bad spine and I miss it.

17. Nice food

Talking of showing yourself some love. Treat yourself to something nice once ins a while. For me, that is pizza, bacon and eggs, or chocolate ice cream. Man, that is the way to say “I love you” to me.

I would not be surprised if Bacon might one day turn out to have magic properties from which we will develop a cure for depression. Even if it does not - bacon is still awesome. 

Except for pizza. For some reason, they always put really dry tasteless bacon on pizza where I live.

18. If it gets too much tell someone

When depression is loudest, never try to ride it out without telling someone. Tumblr does not count.

19. Never drink depressed

Booze is not the answer. For that reason, when depression is very bad I drink nothing stronger than a tea or coffee. Trust me on this one.

20. It is okay to sometimes be not okay

Give yourself permission to feel low. Don’t hide it but don’t let yourself get dragged down by it either.

21. It is not okay to stay not okay

If the depression spell lasts without relenting, seek help. That’s bad and you deserve the best support there is available to you. It can often be the last thing you feel like doing but after a week or two of feeling low and staying home, something more serious may be wrong and you must get help. You deserve to be happy sometimes too.

22. Enjoy the little victories

Take time to really bask in the glow of the smaller wins. I find that gives me the strength to go and get the next win.

23. Your job is NOT to make other people happy

On no account is it ever okay for anyone to make you feel that their happiness is your responsibility. File people like that with the drama queens - in the past.

Trying to conform to the expectations of others is the leading cause of making depression worse than it needs to be. A close second is trying to please everyone. I have no data at all to back that up with but I am pretty sure it is true.

24. Surround yourself with people that know the real you and still like you

Everyone else can stick it where the sun never shines. Seriously, people that know and like the real you are worth their weight in gold. Everyone else... Not so much.

25. It is okay not have the answers

I am 100% sure there is more stuff I know and cannot think of and 100% sure that there is a lot I don’t know and probably should. I’m still learning too.

[imitranslates]

Honjitsu no Kami Oroshi Ch. 1

New series I’ve decided to translate on a whim. I’ll be playing catch-up as the 3rd chapter comes out tomorrow, but this series will be translated on a more relaxed schedule when I do get caught up, prob within 1-2 weeks of the release. This won’t affect my Mononokean translations, so no worries.

Honjitsu no Kami Oroshi (or, “Today’s Divine Revelation,” as I’ve decided to translate it) is a slice of life-y/cooking manga by Yata Midori that just started serialization in Gangan Online last month. In it, established author Takatsuki Ryuunosuke hires his younger brother, Rintarou, to cook menus inspired by literary works in order to spark his ideas!

You can read the first chapter at http://www.ganganonline.com/contents/honzitsu/ by clicking “[1話] 赤毛のアン“  in the chapter listing!

Today's Divine Revelation Chapter 1 – Anne of Green Gables

Page 1

[Raspberry cordial, two types of cookies, fruit and nut pound cake,]

[A layer cake, and cherry pie.]

[This is

The divine revelation menu for entering the world of "Anne of Green Gables."]

Page 4

Ryuunosuke: Haa...

No ideas are coming to me...

Ryuu: How...

Ryuu: Many days ago did I last leave the house, again...?

Page 5

Woman: Eh?

You ended up firing that kid?

Man: No...

When I told him, "You should serve customers with more of a smile," he told me he couldn't...

Man: He said, "If it's going to be an issue, I'll quit."

Woman2: How inflexible!!!

Woman: He always had a sour look on his face, didn't he.

High school students should act more carefree.

Woman2: But, he was such a diligent worker. It's a shame.

What was his name again... Takasugi-kun?

Man: Takatsuki.

Page 6

Man: Takatsuki Rintarou-kun.

[This job wasn't any good either...]

Rintarou: (I thought I'd be able to manage if it was a bookstore...

Well...)

Rin: (The bookstore worker...

Said it was part of customer service. [But it's impossible])

Ryuu: Wha?

Page 7

Ryuu: What, now?

You ended up fired at another job!?

Rin: That's bad manners, Ryuunosuke.

Don't stand up while we're having a meal.

And don't point your chopsticks at people.

Rin: Lastly, a grain of rice! It's stuck to your face.

Ryuu: Ah, sorry.

Ryuu: ...That said, you shouldn't just call me by my name like that. I'm still your big brother, you know.

Rin: I didn't technically get fired.

Rin: I wasn't able to fulfill my employer's demands, so I quit.

Ryuu: Demands?

Rin: .......

Rin: A smile.

Page 8

Ryuu: (Bahaha!) That...

Ryuu: That was the demand...!?

Rin: ...

Ryuu: You can at least smile, can't you!?

Rin: Impossible.

I can't give one of those fake smiles.

But... Selfishly saying "I can't" at work is also unforgivable.

Rin: Therefore, I quit.

It was totally logical!!

Ryuu: How strict!!!

Ryuu: You're so strict, or should I say stubborn!

Ryuu: Are you really my younger brother...?

Ryuu: In the first place, why did you suddenly start looking for a part-time job?

Page 9

Rin:......

No real reason.

Rin: I just thought I should earn my own spending money since I'm a high school student, now.

Rin: Unlike my older bro, who's a shut-in with no talent for normal work.

Ryuu: !

Ryuu: Hey, hold up.

Ryuu: You know I'm a novelist!

Since my workplace is at home, it's not like I'm shutting myself in!

Rin: How many days has it been since you left the house?

Ryuu: If you're gonna say it like that...

Ryuu: Two weeks...?

Rin: Then you're a real shut-in, aren't you!?

Go outside a little! Don't you know your legs are gonna degenerate!?

Ryuu: No way!!

If there's nothing I have to do, there's no way I'm leaving the house!

Page 10

Ryuu: I hate the cold and stifling feeling of the outside world.

Society is overflowing with facades and fabrications.

Ryuu: Unending desires in transient abundance, false love...

The state of all those things wounds my heart.

Ryuu: That's why I've decided...

"I'll do my best not to leave the house."

Rin: Are you a hermit?

Ryuu: I have no discomfort. For I have the wings called "imagination"!

With these wings, I can go anywhere.

Rin: There's no helping you, huh.

Page 11

Rin: (Sigh...) Hey, bro...

It's a really good thing you found your current work as an author.

Ryuu: It's my calling!

I think... it's my calling, but...

Ryuu: ........

Recently, I've been in a little slump...

Ryuu: "A short story commemorating the 10 years since my debut."

Ryuu: Is the story I'm doing, but...

I'm not getting any good ideas.

Rin: They've dried up, huh? (All of them).

Ryuu: Haa... How nice...

Unlike me, the apple blossoms are in full bloom...

Rin: Don't get jealous of a tree.

Ryuu: Whenever the apple tree blooms, it reminds me of Anne of Green Gables...

Rin: Green Gables? What's that?

Page 12

Ryuu: "Anne of Green Gables" is a Canadian coming-of-age story about an orphan with red hair named Anne Shirley.

Ryuu: The highly imaginative protagonist Anne causes a stir with all sorts of incidents.

Ryuu: Friendship, family, and the old-fashioned daily life are all vibrantly written about in that masterpiece.

Ryuu: In the start of the series, before Anne is adopted, when she heads toward the "Green Gables"...

Ryuu: She passes through the rows of dreamily beautiful apple trees...

Ryuu: I really love that scene...

Ryuu: Ahh...

Ryuu: I want to visit Anne's world.

Page 13

Ryuu: If I could visit that world, if I could meet with Anne and happily chat with her...

Ryuu: I might get a revelation from god...

Rin: Why don't you go?

Ryuu: Eh...?

Rin: You have wings called imagination, don't you?

Then, why not go visit? Canada.

Why not visit that world?

Rin: In your head.

Ryuu: !

Ah...

Page 14

Ryuu: That's right! You're totally right, Rintarou!

Hey, why don't you do some work here at my place?

Rin: Wha? Work here?!

Ryuu: Yeah! See, your cooking's good, right?

Rin: Cooking...?

I mean, I can do a certain amount, but...

Ryuu: In Anne's story, all sorts of delicious food shows up.

Please let me have a taste of that moment's joy! While sitting in the comfort of my own home.

Rin: ...?

In your own home?

Ryuu: Yes! The title is!!

Ryuu: Under the Apple Tree!

Rin: !

Ryuu: A wonderful picnic that will take us to the world of Anne of Green Gables!!

Page 15

Rin: ....

Rin: Ehh...?!

Rin: Eh?

(An unforeseen development)

Ryuu: How about it?

Ryuu: One thousand yen an hour!!

Rin: ........

.....

Rin: Are...

Rin: Are you serious...

Girl1: Hey...

Takatsuki-kun is acting weird today, isn't he?

Girl2: Weird?

...He's eating lunch alone while reading, just like always.

Girl1: No, not that.

The book he's reading is what's weird! Look!

Page 16

Girls: A..

Anne of Green Gables...!!!

(Girl1: And with such a scary expression...)

Rin: (It's not like...)

Rin: (I want money so bad I need it from Aniki...)

(But, if I say "I can't" to everything...

I'll become a person that can't do anything.)

Rin: (Above all...)

Page 17

(When he was my age,)

(Aniki had already become an author.)

Rin: (I have to do something, too!!!)

Rin: Uhhh...

Two kinds of cookies, a fruit and nut pound cake, a layer cake...

Raspberry cordial, and a cherry pie. All together, six dishes.

Rin: If it's like that, any idiot should be satisfied.

Rin: The beginning of the tea party is at one o'oclock.

So, in five hours... Okay.

Page 18

Rin: (I'll make this order a success!!)

Rin: Uh, first off...

I'll cut the dough I made and refrigerated last night into cookies and bake them.

Rin: The classic cookies need a little assembly.

Place some jam in the middle of the plain cookies...

Rin: While they're baking, the raspberry cordial.

It seems a lot like raspberry juice...

Rin: The berries are mixed with sugar and put over heat,

And lemon juice and water are added. Once it reaches a boil, the mixture is strained.

(Rin: Incidentally, there's equal parts berries and sugar..)

[Sugar, 500g]

(Rin: The calories must be crazy...)

Rin: I did that part last night, so I just have to add water and soda to taste and it's ready.

Page 19

Rin: Next, the pound cake.

Rin: Beat together room temperature butter and sugar until it turns pale,

Then incorporate beaten eggs a little bit at a time.

(Rin: Looks like it's coming together...)

Rin: Then the flour,

Raisins, walnuts, orange zest, and almonds go in.

Rin: Stir to distribute evenly.

[All right? This cake tastes horrible! Is this the fault of the baking powder?]

[(Oh, Marilla!)]

Rin: (...Is how that scene went in the story, I think.)

Rin: (I guess things would really go wrong if the baking powder was bad back then.)

Rin: (But I'll be fine. I used good baking powder...)

[170C for 40-50 minutes.]

Rin: Oops, onto the next! (The cherry pie!)

Rin: I mean, I should clean up a little.

Uwah! It's already this late!?

(Crash!)

Rin: Ow!

Page 20

Rin: !

Rin: Uwah...

It's a success!!

Rin: (It rose nicely,

Has a golden brown color, and it smells great!!)

Rin: (It's going well!!!)

Rin: (Alright, let's keep this mood up!

The last obstacle for today!

The layer cake!!)

[Slice the sponge cake into layers and fill with jam and cream.]

(Basically, a shortcake.)

Page 21

Rin: Beat the eggs and sugar over heat over heat for 5 minutes until frothy.

Keep going until fluffy and airy.

[Ideal]

Rin: You can tell when it's finished when the mixture leaves tracks behind... (Or so it says...)

Rin: Huh?

This isn't any good...

Rin: Ehhhh~~?

The egg isn't whipping up at all...

Ryuu: (I thought it'd be any moment now, so I came to check...

But it looks like making sweets is pretty rough...)

Page 22

[20 minutes later.]

Rin: I...

Rin: I did it somehow...?

Rin: Haa... haa....

Rin: Gently mix flour into the whipped eggs using a sifter...

Then add milk to the finished batter and mix again.

Rin: When you put it in the dish, gently hit the bottom of the pan to get out any air bubbles, and put it in the oven.

Rin: Now I'll pour the custard onto the cherry pie I baked earlier,

And line it with cherries.

Page 23

Rin: Once the sponge cake is cooled, decorate it.

Rin: Okay...

Rin: Done!

Ryuu: Rin!!

Rintarou! Over here, in the garden!

Page 24

Ryuu: Let's eat over here!!!

[This is...]

[The picnic menu for traveling to the world of Anne of Green Gables.]

Page 25

[1. Raspberry cordial]

[2. Jam cookie

3. Chocolate cookie]

[4. Dried fruit and nut pound cake]

[5. Layer cake]

[6. Cherry pie]

Ryuu: It...

Ryuu: It's so high quality!! (Amazing!!)

Ryuu: Rintarou...

You really are impressive, huh... (Was this really your first time making these sweets...?)

Rin: Yeah.

Now, what to start with?

Ryuu: Hmm... Anything's fine.

Rin: !

What's that mean, just pick one!

Ryuu: I don't mean it like that.

Page 26

Ryuu: These are the confections you worked hard to make, right?

I'm sure all of them are delicious.

Rin: Then...

The layer cake.

Rin: Here.

Page 27

Rin: Why don't you call it down.

Your revelation or whatever.

Ryuu: Yeah.

Thanks for the food.

Page 29

Ryuu: ......

Ryuu: Rows...

Of apple trees?

[Just when did I get here...]

[Is this exit...

This way?]

Page 30

[An apple tree.]

(That's right.)

(The apple tree in the garden... I planted it when I'd just become an author.)

(A charm)

[To bear fruit]

Page 31

[To all sorts of creative ideas, just like that girl.]

Page 32

Rin: ....?

Rin: (Was it bad...?)

Rin: Ryuunosuke?

Page 33

Ryuu: Mm!

Ryuu: Delicious...!

Rin: Eh?

Ryuu: It's delicious!

All of it's amazingly good!

Rin: R-

Really...?

Ryuu: Really, really!

Ryuu: I just remembered

How I felt when I was just starting as an author...

Page 34

Ryuu: It's all thanks to you, Rintarou!!

Ryuu: It's really wonderful! Thank you!!

(Huh...)

Rin: (Huh?)

Rin: Eh...

Rin: Uh...

Rin: (Huh, what's with that...)

Page 35

Rin: The... job...

Ryuu: ?

Rin: (Just now, he told me "thank you"...

Big bro's gratitude...)

Rin: Well, that job... my work...

Uh, that is...

Rin: (What...

What should I do?!!)

[Man: Takatsuki-kun.

Can't you try serving the customers with more of a smile?]

[Rin: ...

I can't.]

[Ah...

I...]

(This is the first time anyone's been pleased with my work, isn't it....)

Rin: Th...

Rin: ......

Thanks.

Page 36

Rin: !!

Rin: Uwa!

Rin: The wind's picked up, huh.

Should we move back inside? Ryuunosuke.

Page 37

[Oh.

It switched on.]

Page 38

Dad: Isn't that amazing, Rintarou?

Ryuunosuke won a big award for his novel.

Dad: Amazing...

[A 16 year old's break-out work!]

Rin: (Ryuunosuke is...)

(A shut-in with way too much imagination, and he can't acclimate to society...)

(Even so, he's made an incredible amount of people happy.)

(I really...

Wanted to know what I could do, and started doing part-time jobs...)

Page 39

Rin: ...Is it good?

Rin: (I'm still no match for him...

But...)

Ryuu: Hmm?

Ryuu: Oh, yeah...

Rin: (What an absent-minded reply.)

(Making others happy isn't so bad.)

Rin: ...

Uh-huh.

Page 40

[The next day]

Rin: Eh...

What's this "Divine Revelation" on the 27th?!

Ryuu: It's an appointment...

I realized it this time. I need your power.

Rin: You liar!

Don't just decide that on your own, it's a huge pain!

Eh?

Ryuu: For a writer, you know...

You should realize that I need a new revelation one after the other...

[<-A day before the deadline.]

Rin: Wh--

Ryuu: Don't you get it?!

Rin: ......

.....

Rin: I...

Rin: I get it....

Ryuu: (Alright!) I made my appointment. That's one thing off my mind.

Ah, but I'll probably have morning and night switched around by then, so it should be in the evening!

Ryuu: Oh, if I eat too much I'll get tired, so make something light.

Even so, I want something nutritious.

Rin: ......

Ryuu: But if it's hard to digest, my concentration will....

[That was the start of a pain-in-ass event in my regular life.]

[orbemnews]

France kept classrooms open 'at all costs.' At a school where 20 pupils lost loved ones, some say the price was too high “I told him I loved him, and I would always do my best,” Grace said.    This would be the last promise she ever made to her father, as he lay intubated in an ICU unit for Covid-19 patients. He died the next day, on April 9 of last year, at the peak of the first wave in France.  Grace’s world was shattered. She told CNN she dreaded going back to school in Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb northeast of Paris that was hit hard by the pandemic, last September. When she returned, it was still the school she remembered. But for Grace — who did not want her last name published to protect her family — nothing was the same. She worried the other students would treat her differently, and was surprised when one of her classmates confided in her that she too had lost her father to Covid-19. In all, at least 20 students from her high school, Eugene Delacroix, in nearby Drancy, lost a relative to the virus in 2020, according to the town hall. Nothing suggests these deaths were caused by infections at the school. But CNN has spoken with students at Eugene Delacroix who say they share a common burden: The fear of bringing Covid-19 home and infecting a loved one.   Open schools policy Aside from a brief closure near the start of the pandemic, France has made its open schools policy a point of pride in the name of both reopening the economy and delivering a social service, with some parents relying on school meals to feed their children. The government’s stated conviction is that the benefits of opening schools far outweigh the cost.  “Let’s not forget what makes us proud. No other country in the European Union has left its schools open as much as France has,” France’s European affairs minister, Clement Beaune, tweeted this past March, a day before Italy shuttered its schools again due to rising infections.  France has only closed its schools for a total of 10 weeks since the beginning of the pandemic — one of the lowest rates in Europe, according to figures from UNESCO, compared to 35 weeks for Italy, 28 for Germany and 27 weeks for the UK.  During the first wave of the pandemic last spring, the government shuttered schools in March, before gradually reopening them in May and June. “We need the children to go back to class because there’s a danger they’ll be left behind, learning gaps will appear and educational inequalities are exacerbated,” French President Emmanuel Macron told journalists during a visit to a school in a suburb northwest of Paris in May last year. In September, it became mandatory for the more than 12 million schoolchildren in France to return to class. Those aged 11 and over had to wear masks, classrooms needed to be ventilated and social distancing was imposed in corridors and canteens.  Not all schools were able to respect the safety protocols, especially those in poor neighborhoods. Colleen Brown, who teaches English at Eugene Delacroix to classrooms packed with 30 children, said the restrictions were impossible to implement at the start of the school year. Windows wouldn’t open, she said, some children removed their masks, they lacked cleaning staff and there was hardly any testing for the virus.  “France may be exceptional in that they’ve kept the schools open at all costs, but they have not been exceptional in funding the schools so that they can do that safely,” Brown said. Despite Brown’s pleas and daily fear of going into the building, she said little was done in terms of protective measures; complaints she and other teachers eventually made to school officials in January fell on deaf ears.  CNN contacted the Creteil school board, which oversees Eugene Delacroix, but has not received a response.  Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told CNN he acknowledged that the policies put in place were not perfect. Calls for closures Meanwhile in the United Kingdom, most children were being taught from home after the government imposed a national lockdown and schools were closed as the more contagious B.1.1.7 variant, first identified in that country, raged. When that variant made its way over to France and its schools, the “Stylos Rouge” (Red Pens) grassroots movement, made up of 72,000 education workers, sued Blanquer. In March they accused him of failing to protect teaching staff in close contact with children “who spread the virus.”  And nowhere was that spread felt more acutely than in Seine-Saint Denis, then the worst-hit region in France, according to the health ministry.  At the height of the third wave, as virus cases began to spike at Eugene Delacroix, a total of 22 classes had to close after students and teachers tested positive for Covid-19, according to the teachers’ union. The government’s policy had been that three students needed to test positive before a class had to quarantine. That was cut down to one student by March 2021.  The teachers’ union sent an open letter to Macron and Blanquer decrying the current situation and calling for the “immediate and temporary closure of the high school.” Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is eyeing a bid for the presidency in 2022, echoed their call and asked for schools across the capital to close to rein in the spread of the virus, but no action was taken.  Blanquer defended his open schools policy to CNN. He said he made a choice in favor of the children and their future.  “It was necessary for children to go to school, not only because of the education and learning, but also for interactions with others and for psychological and health reasons,” Blanquer said.  “It’s in the crisis that you show your true values and what is really important for us is school. That’s why this crisis can be a (huge) challenge for all of us because there is a lot of inconvenience for the future but it’s also an opportunity to be more conscious of what is really important.” This strategy is reflected in Macron’s decision to hold off on a strict lockdown at the start of 2021. He said the country needed to consider the impact on mental health and the economy in devising a balanced response to the third wave. But between January and March, the fear of catching Covid-19 became part of school life for the 2,400 pupils at Eugene Delacroix, some students said.  After losing her father, Grace feared she would bring the virus home. “We weren’t worried about catching it, but what if we caught it and then brought it home and passed it on to a cousin or nephew? You’d feel terrible even though it would not be your fault,” she said.  Maëlle Benzimera, 17, who attends Eugene Delacroix and lives at home with her parents, brother and sister, said she was also anxious about contaminating her loved ones.   “I know that if I catch the virus, I will be a little bit sick, but I won’t be sick enough to go to the hospital. Whereas if my parents or grandparents have the virus, I know that they could die or could go to the hospital,” Benzimera said. “I’ve been really scared since September.”  Vaccines for teachers It wasn’t until April — when faced with soaring infections, the rampant spread of the variant first detected in the UK and warnings from hospitals they may have to triage patients — that Macron announced a partial lockdown across France.  The President also ordered schools to close for three to four weeks, essentially extending the Easter holidays. Infection rates among those aged under 20 dropped nationwide in the following weeks, according to figures from the health ministry. Officials now say they are doing everything in their power so schools can reopen safely, including rolling out saliva-based testing and vaccines for teachers over 55 — which accounts for only 16% of all teachers, according to health ministry figures. Primary schools and kindergartens reopened on April 26 and high schools and middle schools on May 3.  More than 15 million people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, about 29% of France’s adult population, according to the health ministry. Macron vowed “a specific strategy” would be implemented for teachers to get vaccinated in April, but those under 55 won’t get priority until June.  Some epidemiologists and scientists have questioned the government’s policy of keeping schools open as transmission rates increased. They pointed to the fact that children were clearly a vector for transmission and that closing classes when a positive case emerged was not enough. To stop the spread, the entire school needed to be shut down. Epidemiologist Catherine Hill argues that without large-scale testing, there’s no way of knowing the level of Covid-19 transmission in schools.  “It’s like trying to empty your bathtub with a strainer. It doesn’t work. That’s not at all a solution,” Hill explained. “You close down the classes where there is one positive child, but the other kids can become positive any time so you would have to do it again, and if you do 250,000 kids per week out of a population of 6.6 million [in primary schools], you’re going nowhere.” With about 5,000 people currently being treated in Covid-19 ICUs across the country, teachers believe a return to school will only mean one thing: Infection rates will pick up – and they are still not protected.  Blanquer admits that the situation in schools “has not been perfect,” but says that ultimately giving children an education is a long-term goal that the government wasn’t ready to compromise on.   Antonella Francini contributed to this report. Source link Orbem News #classrooms #costs #France #high #Lost #loved #Open #price #pupils #school

[chocolatequeennk]

Forever and Never Apart, 30/42

Summary: After taking a year to recover from the Master, the Doctor and Rose are ready to travel again. But Time keeps pushing them forward, and instead of going back to their old life, they slowly realise that they’re stepping into a new life. Friends new and old are meeting on the TARDIS, and when the stars start going out, the Doctor and Rose face the biggest change of all: the return of Bad Wolf.

Series 4 with Rose, part 7 of Being to Timelessness; sequel to Taking Time (AO3 | FF.NET | TSP)

Betaed by @lastbluetardis, @rudennotgingr, @jabber-who-key, and @pellaaearien. Thank you so much!

AO3 | FF.NET | TSP

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Chapter Thirty: The Midnight Sky

Rose was on the massage table when she first felt the prickle under her skin. She turned her head to catch the massage therapist’s eye. “What kind of oil are you using?” she asked, wondering if it was something she was allergic to. The therapist showed her the bottle, and she didn’t see any ingredients she was sensitive to, so she handed it back with a nod.

But a few minutes later, the prickle had worsened, and having someone touch her felt like her skin was being rubbed by sandpaper. “I’m sorry,” she said regretfully, “but I think I need to end the session early.”

The therapist took her hands off Rose’s back, and Rose heard her step away from the table. “Is there something about my technique that isn’t agreeable to you?”

Rose shook her head; she’d finally recognised the source of her discomfort, and it wasn’t physical in nature. “No, not at all. And don’t worry—I’ll still pay you for the full sixty minutes.”

“Thank you, ma’am. I’ll leave so you can get dressed.”

The tag on her blouse scratched unpleasantly on the back of her neck, but thankfully, the rest of her clothes didn’t bother her. Rose left a tip in the jar—it wasn’t the therapist’s fault she suddenly had to bail out of her session.

Alone in the lobby, she focused on the sharp excitement with a hint of fear the Doctor was feeling. There was something unexpected going on on the tour bus.

She rubbed absently at her neck. And whatever it is, it’s got my time senses going haywire.

She tried not to hover over the Doctor, but as soon as he had a free moment, he focused on her.  My tour isn’t exactly going as planned, he explained.

She sighed. Of course it bloody wasn’t.

In fact, they’ve sent a rescue vehicle and we’ll be back at the resort in… oh, three hours?

Well, you broke your cardinal rule just before boarding, she pointed out, hiding her disquiet behind cheek. You asked what could possibly go wrong.

The Doctor’s wry amusement cut off abruptly, and Rose got the impression that one of the passengers was badgering him with questions. Better let them know a rescue is on the way.

When he spoke to the person standing in front of him, Rose jumped up and started pacing. There was… time was… and the Doctor…

She blew out a loud breath and focused on the bond, paying enough attention that she could follow the drift of the conversation going on around him. Time was swirling in eddies around him, and watching it from a distance was almost torturous.

“Mum?”

Rose jumped when Jenny rested a hand on her arm. “Don’t touch me,” she requested sharply.

Jenny, bless her, wasn’t hurt by her tone. Instead, she dropped her hands to her sides and looked at Rose. “You seemed upset,” she said, tapping her temple, “so I ended my massage and had someone get Donna.”

“You didn’t have to interrupt your own massages,” Rose protested, even though she was grateful not to be alone.

Donna came out as Rose was talking. “What’s the point in getting a massage when the world could be ending?” She untwisted her hair, letting it fall out of the bun into a long ponytail. “Though I have to ask, can’t we even go to a resort without running into trouble?”

Rose felt a smile creep across her face. “Apparently not,” she said with a sigh. She opened her mouth to tell Jenny and Donna what little she knew, then remembered she was in a full waiting room with staff hovering nearby. “I think there was a cafe up front—I could go for a cuppa right now.”

Donna snorted. “You could always go for a cuppa,” she said as they walked out of the salon.

“Yeah, well I really could today,” Rose countered.

When they were seated at the cafe, steaming cups of tea in hand, she took a breath and let it out slowly. “There’s something going wrong on the bus,” she said, careful to keep her voice quiet so the other guests couldn’t overhear. “It’s stopped, and they’ve called for a rescue vehicle, but… I’m worried.”

“What about?” Jenny asked.

Rose pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to find the words to explain the amorphous feeling of something lingering just out of reach of her time senses. “There’s just something…” She thought of the telepathic presence she’d felt earlier, and the way the timelines felt right now. “I just have a feeling something’s about to happen.”

oOoOoOoOo

“What did they say? Did they tell you? What is it? What’s wrong?”

The Doctor blinked at Sky, taken aback by her barrage of questions. He hadn’t expected to be interrogated as soon as he returned to the main cabin, so he didn’t have a lie ready.

Before he could open his mouth to repeat Driver Joe’s lie about the engines stabilising, Rose whispered, Better let them know a rescue is on the way.

The Doctor frowned slightly; of course that made the most sense, despite Joe’s admonition to keep the truth from people. “I’m afraid the engines have stopped,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “But they’ve called for help—a rescue truck is on its way.”

Sky shook her head and wrapped her arms around her chest. “I don’t need this. I’m on a schedule. This is completely unnecessary.”

Anniqua glared at the Doctor and then looked pointedly at his empty seat. “Back to your seats, thank you.” Sky huffed and sat down, and the Doctor smiled at her, then took his own seat.

Unsurprisingly, Hobbes did not take this further deviation from the typical tour of Midnight well. “This is my fourteenth time taking this tour, and this has never happened!”

The Doctor shrugged. “Well, I suppose that means they were about due to have an incident of some sort,” he said reasonably. “The law of averages and all.” Hobbes pressed his lips into a thin line and settled back in his seat.

“Well how long are we going to have to sit here for?” Biff groused. “I didn’t pay for this tour to sit in a bus for hours on end.”  

The door between the cabin and the cockpit slid open and Val waved Anniqua over. “If I’m going to sit here for another hour or more while we wait for this rescue vehicle to reach us, I expect my wine glass to be kept full.”

Anniqua’s back stiffened. “Of course, Mrs. Cane,” she replied, and the Doctor could hear the way she was gritting her teeth in her strained voice.

A moment later, the Hostess turned and glared straight at him. Ah. She knew Driver Joe asked me to lie. The Doctor shrugged unapologetically, and the woman spun on her heel and stalked into the galley.

“There you go,” the Doctor said, trying for a cheerful tone. “We’ll all have some wine, tell a few more stories, and be back at the resort in time for a late lunch. I can guarantee you everything’s fine.”

He didn’t even have time to regret breaking his rule again before something hit the bus, thumping twice against the hull.

“What was that?” Val demanded.

Professor Hobbes looked at the bus’ ceiling, then at Val. “It must be the metal. We’re cooling down. It’s just settling,” he said, but he was grasping at straws and they all knew it.

“Rocks,” Dee Dee suggested. “It could be rocks falling.”

Biff sat up in his seat, trying to make himself look larger and more intimidating than he really was. “Well I can tell you one thing for sure,” he growled in annoyance, “as soon as we get back to the Leisure Palace, I’ll be asking for a full refund!”

Two more thumps sounded on another part of the hull. Everyone jumped, and even Jethro dropped his disaffected attitude to pull his legs up into his seat.

Sky followed the progress of the thumps with her gaze. “What is that?” she asked, staring at the wall where the most recent ones had come from.

Val was staring at the spot, too. “There’s someone out there.”

“Now, don’t be ridiculous,” the professor scoffed.  

Dee Dee licked her lips and tried to offer her very reasonable explanation for the second time. “Like I said, it could be rocks.”

“We’re out in the open,” the Hostess argued, gesturing to indicate the open space surrounding the bus. “Nothing could fall against the sides.”

The Doctor winced. He was normally all for clearing up erroneous ideas, but in the current climate, he wouldn’t have been so swift to discard a possibility that might make people feel a little bit safer.

They heard two more thumps.

The Doctor looked at the wall of the bus. He could feel a twisted knot in the timelines getting closer, and despite the obvious danger, he was intrigued to find out what was coming.

“Knock, knock,” he murmured.

“Who’s there?” Jethro said, completing the second half of the ancient Earth joke.

An ominous beat seemed to vibrate through the bus, like a drum they could feel, but not see. The Doctor was aware of Rose’s tension as she focused on the bond, trying to catch as much of what was going on around him as she could, and he opened up to the bond a little bit more so she could hear the conversation in the bus.

“Is there something out there?” Sky’s voice went up an octave. “Well? Anyone?” Two more thumps sounded in answer to her demand, and her whole body quivered. “What the hell is making that noise?”

Professor Hobbes got to his feet and heaved an aggrieved sigh. “I’m sorry, but the light out there is Xtonic.”

The Doctor walked away from the professor as he gave his wholly unhelpful and frankly unbelievable reassurances. There was something out there, and he was determined to find out what it is, and ascertain if it carried any threat.

“That means it would destroy any living thing in a split second,” the professor continued. “It is impossible for someone to be outside.”

And yet there is, Rose countered. Be careful, love.

The Doctor nodded absently as he scanned the hull of ship with his eyes, trying to guess where the next thump would come from.

Sky gasped and glared at the professor, who kept insisting nothing could survive on Midnight. “Well, what the hell is that, then?”

The Doctor reached into his pocket as he walked quickly to the part of ship where they’d heard the most recent thumps.

“Sir, you really should get back to your seat,” Anniqua hissed.

He ignored her, pulling out his stethoscope and pressing the bell to the interior wall, right next to a window. “Hello?” he asked, hoping for some kind of answer.

And he got one, in the form of two more thumps, coming now in a faster rhythm. He straightened and his gaze moved to the back of the ship, behind the galley, where the thumps had come from this time.

“It’s moving,” Jethro said, sounding a little less amused and a little more scared.

The emergency exit rattled, and while the Doctor wanted to chalk that up to a coincidence, he knew that door was on heavy hydraulics. No amount of wind or pressure could make it move accidentally.

Val pointed at the door and stumbled back a few paces. “It’s trying the door.”

“There is no it,” Professor Hobbes insisted. “There’s nothing out there. Can’t be.”

The emergency door rattled a few more times, they they heard two thumps on the roof, followed by two more thumps on the main entrance.

Val whimpered in fear. She was closest to the door, and she jumped away from it and spun around. “That’s the entrance. Can it get in?” she cried, pointing at the door.

Dee Dee shook her head. “No. That door’s on two hundred weight hydraulics.”

“Stop it,” the professor ordered. “Don’t encourage them.”

“What do you think it is?” Dee Dee countered, finally sounding a bit exasperated with him and his narrow view of the universe.

Biff reached for the door, and Val grabbed his arm. “Biff, don’t.”

“Mr. Cane. Better not,” the Doctor advised, remembering Anniqua’s warning not to touch the seals around the doors.

Biff shook his head. “Nah, it’s cast iron, that door.” He knocked on the door three times, and immediately, three thumps came back.

Sky gasped in fear and backed away from the door. Even the professor seemed to be perspiring under the collar of his Oxford shirt, belying his calm insistence that nothing could be outside.

“Three times,” Val said, her voice getting shrill as she looked around at the group. “Did you hear that? It did it three times.”

“It answered,” Jethro said.

“It did it three times!” Val repeated.

The Doctor narrowed his eyes; he was honestly more concerned with the disproportionate fear rolling off his fellow passengers than whatever was outside. He pushed his way between Val and Biff to stand in front of the door, holding his hands up to placate the quickly unravelling group of humans.

“All right, all right, all right. Everyone calm down.”

Sky gestured to the door with shaking hands. “No, but it answered. It answered. Don’t tell me that thing’s not alive. It answered him.”

Whatever was outside pounded on the door three more times, drawing a few shrieks of fear from the humans shaking on the bus.

Any thoughts, Rose? the Doctor asked.

They’re spiralling, Doctor. I know you’re curious to know what’s out there, but those seven people standing around you are panicked, and you know how dangerous that is. Do whatever you can to calm them down.

Anniqua stepped forward and tried restore order in a situation that was already beyond her control. “I really must insist you get back to your seats,” she shrieked.

“No, don’t just stand there telling us the rules,” Sky yelled.  “You’re the Hostess. You’re supposed to do something.”

The Doctor looked at the two women, Sky red-faced and angry and Anniqua, shoulders heaving as she quivered in fear. Neither of their reactions were what he would have expected of them, and he filed that fact away as he stepped in between them.

“Sky,” the Doctor said, keeping his voice low and quiet. “Take a deep breath. I know it’s scary, but—”

Four loud thumps interrupted his reassurance, and Sky’s eyes were wild with fear. “What is it?” she moaned. “What the hell’s making that noise? She said she’d get me,” she added, and the Doctor suddenly understood how withdrawn the woman had been, and her terrible fear.

“Stop it. Make it stop. Somebody make it stop. Don’t just stand there looking at me. It’s not my fault. He started it with his stories,” she said, pointing to the professor, then her finger moved to the Doctor. “And he made it worse!” Her chest was heaving. “Why didn’t you leave it alone? Stop staring at me. Just tell me what the hell it is.”

Her words came faster and faster as she dissolved into a full-blown panic attack. The Doctor wanted to offer her some kind of comfort, but as the rest of the passengers watched Sky, they slowly advanced on her without realising it, and all he could do was stand in between them, hoping it made Sky feel moderately safe.

“Calm down!” Dee Dee moved her hands in a calming gesture, and it might have worked, if the thumping hadn’t started again, moving across the roof this time, towards the front of the bus.

“It’s coming for me. Oh, it’s coming for me,” Sky moaned, backing up as the thumps got closer and closer to her. “It’s coming for me. It’s coming for me. It’s coming for me.” Her back hit the cockpit door and she screamed.

Each thump was louder and harder than the one before, and the Doctor suddenly realised they might actually be able to beat their way through the hull. “Get out of there!” he shouted, reaching for Sky.

Before he could grab her and pull her away from the cockpit, one final massive impact sent the whole shuttle rocking from side to side. Sparks showered down on them as the electrical wiring was shredded, and then the bus went dark.

oOoOoOoOo

The longer the situation on the bus went on, the more Rose’s time sense grated at her. They were teetering on the edge of a “what must not be,” and the Doctor was right in the middle of it—not even tea could calm her.

The TARDIS hummed urgently in her mind, and Rose tapped nervously on the table. I know dear, she thought, trying to sound as soothing as possible. But he can take care of himself.

Before the ship could respond, the Doctor’s tense demeanour erupted into full-blown fear and confusion. Rose pressed her hands to the table, barely restraining the urge to leap to her feet and run to the TARDIS.

“What is it, Rose?”

She took a deep breath and shook her head, trying to steady her nerves. “Things are getting worse,” she muttered. “Come on,” she said, pushing back from the table and jumping to her feet. The food had been billed to her room, so they didn’t need to worry about paying before they left. “It’s time we asked a few questions of management.”

Get information before making a choice. It was the right thing to do—it was looking before she leapt, like the Doctor always wanted her to do. But the urge to just go rescue him was hard to resist. She ground her teeth together, then reached out for her bond mate. If he were injured, she would skip the information gathering and go straight to the rescue she was already planning in the back of her mind.

Doctor! Are you okay?

She waited impatiently while he took a physical inventory. Arms, legs, neck, head, nose. I’m fine, Rose. I promise.

Rose sagged in relief and set off for the front desk. Please be careful, love. For once, the brush of reassurance the Doctor passed over the bond did not actually reassure her.

oOoOoOoOo

When the shaking finally stopped, the Doctor was on the floor, wedged in between two rows of seats. The bus was almost pitch dark, and it was only his superior vision that enabled him to see the shadowy figures of his fellow passengers slowly getting to their feet. And to add to the overall disorienting atmosphere, the power going out had rebooted the entertainment system and they were listening to the music video again.

Doctor! Are you okay?

Rose’s concern demanded his full attention, and an honest answer. He sat up gingerly, running his hand through his hair first to make sure he didn’t have any head injuries, then taking inventory of his limbs. Arms, legs, neck, head, nose. I’m fine, Rose. I promise.

Please be careful, love.

The Doctor sent her as much reassurance as he could manage as he got to his feet and looked around at his fellow passengers. “Everyone all right? How are we?”

“Earthquake,” Professor Hobbes grunted as he righted himself. “Must be.”

Dee Dee shook her head and rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “But that’s impossible. The ground is fixed. It’s solid.”

The Doctor nodded. Unlike most planets, Midnight’s surface was not comprised of tectonic plates that could shift against each other. Midnight didn’t have a core and a crust, either. It was solid diamond the whole way through, making an earthquake technically impossible.

“We’ve got torches,” Anniqua said, her voice winded. “Everyone take a torch. They’re in the back of the seats.”

They all obeyed, and a moment later, five narrow beams of light were bouncing around the cabin, some of them hitting the Doctor in the face.

Most of the passengers stayed in their seats, still trying to catch their breath. But as soon as there was a bit of light in the cabin, Jethro stepped into the aisle and strode towards the front of the bus.

“Oh, Jethro,” Val cooed. “Sweetheart, come here.”

“Never mind me.” Jethro leaned against a seat and shone his torch at the cockpit door. “What about her?”

They all followed his gaze to where he was pointing.

In the midst of the rubble of the front row of seats, Sky sat with her head in her hands. It was the same position she’d been cowering in a few minutes ago, only pushed into a seat instead of backed against the wall of the bus.

The Doctor took his own torch while Val and Biff commented on the state of the seats and wondered what had happened to them. He was more concerned with the woman sitting there than the upholstery, so he ignored their questions. The fact that he didn’t have any answers would only ignite the panic once again, anyway.

He knelt beside Sky and put a gentle hand on her back, not wanting to trigger any flashbacks to her abusive ex with a touch too sudden or heavy-handed. “It’s all right, it’s all right, it’s all right,” he whispered soothingly. “It’s over. We’re still alive. Look, the wall’s still intact. Do you see?” He nodded up at the cabin hull, which had large dent bulging inward, but maintained its integrity. “We’re safe.”

“Driver Joe, can you hear me?” Anniqua cried over the intercom. A moment later she ran to the front of the cabin, fear practically vibrating in waves off her. “I’m not getting any response. The intercom must be down.”

She pressed the yellow button, and the cockpit door slid open. But instead of the dimly lit cockpit the Doctor had stood in just five minutes before, painfully bright light flooded the cabin. The Xtonic radiation alarm the Doctor had heard before sounded, and the Hostess managed to press the button again, getting the door to close before they were all vaporised by the rays of Midnight’s poisonous sun.

“What happened? What was that?” Val asked.

“Is it the driver?” Biff said. “Have we lost the driver?”

Anniqua staggered back from the door, her mouth hanging open in shock. “The cabin’s gone.”

That’s not possible, the Doctor thought as he used the sonic on the panel, but he didn’t voice it out loud. Too many impossible things had already happened today.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Professor Hobbes said, and the Doctor rolled his eyes. “It can’t be gone. How can it be gone?”

“Well, well, you saw it,” Dee Dee snapped.

With his back to the group, the Doctor was able to hide the smirk Dee Dee’s sass brought to his face. There we go—there’s the woman who’s going to find the Lost Moon of Poosh one day.

“There was nothing there,” Anniqua stammered, “like it was ripped away.”

Biff shone his torch in the Doctor’s direction. “What are you doing?”

“Ah, that’s better,” the Doctor said cheerily, as if Biff had meant to help. “Little bit of light. Thank you. Molto bene.”

Val sniffed. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

Her harshness made it hard to sympathise with her, but the Doctor could hear the fear beneath the strident tone. He reached into his pocket for the psychic paper, thinking quickly to come up with a single lie that might satisfy as many needs as possible—he couldn’t go flashing the paper around in front of multiple people and have it read something different each time.

It only took him a second to settle on a name and title, and he handed the wallet to Val. Biff sidled over to her and read over her shoulder. “Doctor John Tyler, PhD Xenobiology, Anthropology. Expert in alien races and cultures.”

The Doctor took the paper back from Val and put it away. “Plus, lots of applied skill in mechanics and electrical wiring,” he added. “The things you get into when you’re on an expedition… It’s best to know how to take care of yourself.”

He finally managed to get the panel loose, and what he saw confirmed what Anniqua had said. “I didn’t think it was possible,” he said, staring at the severed wires dangling from the panel. “Any rupture in the hull should have sealed itself off. But something sliced it off. You’re right, the cabin’s gone.”

“But if it gets separated?” Anniqua asked desperately.

The Doctor shook his head slowly. “It loses integrity,” he said, trying to be as gentle as possible. He stood up and looked back at the rest of the passengers and the Hostess. “I’m sorry, they’ve been reduced to dust.” Anniqua sobbed, and the Doctor remembered that Joe and Claude were her coworkers, people she might have known well. “I’m sorry,” he repeated, looking directly at her. “Joe and Claude are gone.”  

The words landed in the small tour bus with the impact of a ticking time bomb. Five terrified humans stared back at him, and he realised immediately that he needed to say something, anything, to get their focus off the tragedy and onto the hope of their own survival.

“But remember, they sent a distress signal.” He stood up and willed everyone to trust him, to believe they would be fine. “Help is on its way. They saved our lives. We are going to get out of here, I promise. We’re still alive, and they are going to find us.”

oOoOoOoOo

When they reached the main lobby, Rose pushed the doors open. The concierge’s broad smile faltered slightly when she strode across the room and put her hands down on the desk.

“Excuse me, I was wondering about the tour to the waterfall.”

The woman’s expression shuttered, and Rose narrowed her eyes at her.

“My husband is on it, and I can’t remember when he said he’d be back.”

The concierge’s eyes darted down to the screen in front of her, and quick as a wink, Rose grabbed the tablet and read the message. She growled softly in displeasure when it didn’t tell her anything she didn’t already know: they’d been stopped, and a rescue vehicle was on its way to pick them up.

“How long until the rendezvous?” Rose asked curtly as she handed the tablet back.

“Sixty minutes,” the woman snapped. Then she took a deep breath and a moment later, her expression was serene again. “We’ll be giving an announcement over the tannoy when the rescue vehicle returns to the docking bay. If you listen for that, you should be able to meet him upon his arrival.”

Rose wanted to snarl that she wouldn’t need an overhead announcement to let her know when the Doctor was close, but she swallowed the words. “Thank you,” she managed, then turned back to Jenny and Donna and motioned for them to leave the lobby.

Jenny and Donna exchanged a glance as they followed Rose through the resort in the direction of their rooms. Donna nodded from Jenny to Rose, then made a “come on” motion with her hand when Jenny was silent.

Oh. Jenny took a deep breath, then came up alongside her mother. “What now, Mum?”

Rose looked at her, then over her shoulder at Donna. “I told you the bus had stopped, but something just attacked them and managed to sever the cockpit from the rest of the vehicle.” She took a deep breath. “I know Midnight is supposedly uninhabited, but something is out there, and it’s already killed the driver and the mechanic.” She brushed a strand of hair back over her ear. “That’s why we’re going to get the TARDIS and go get them.”

Jenny could feel the fiercely protective instinct guiding her mum’s decisions. Rose’s eyes glittered gold for a moment, and Jenny almost took a step back.

“They’ve got a rescue vehicle going out there, don’t they?” Donna said.

Rose blinked, and the gold was gone. She shook her head quickly. “You heard the concierge—the rescue vehicle won’t get to them for another hour.” She pressed her lips into a thin line. “They don’t have that long. If we don’t get those people off of that bus soon, it will be too late.”

A hint of a premonition, just the feeling that something was lurking just out of sight, teased the edges of Jenny’s time senses. The utter wrongness of it made her shiver, and she met Rose’s gaze head-on.

“Let’s go.”  

oOoOoOoOo

The reminder of the coming rescue quieted the passengers. In the absence of six voices all talking over each other, they could hear how still things had become.

“That noise from outside,” Jethro whispered. “It’s stopped.”

“Well, thank God for that,” Val spat out.

He shook his head. “But what if it’s not outside anymore? What if it’s inside?”

Val’s eyes turned white with fear. “Inside? Where?”

“It was heading for her.” The beam from Jethro’s torch landed on Sky’s back. “Why won’t she turn around?”

Five more torches were directed at Sky, casting her silhouette on the wall of the bus. She remained hunched over, apparently unaware that she was the centre of attention.

The Doctor turned to Anniqua. “Have we got a medical kit?”

She took a shuddering breath and straightened her shoulders. “Yes, of course. I’ll go get it.” Her eyes were still wide with fear as she walked past him to the galley, but she looked more collected than she had before the bus had stopped.

Sky still hadn’t moved, and the Doctor approached her carefully, as if she were a frightened animal. “Sky?” he asked once he reached her side. His voice was low and soft. “It’s all right, Sky. I just want you to turn around, face me.”

Sky’s right hand dropped, then her left. With the shadow on the wall copying her motions, the scene was eerily reminiscent of classic horror films. Judging from the increased respiration he could hear from the other passengers, the Doctor wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the similarity.

Her right shoulder moved towards them as Sky turned slowly, and even the Doctor found himself holding his breath. A moment later, she raised her face to look at them, and the beams from the torches became a makeshift spotlight, illuminating her sharp features.

Pale blue eyes looked at the Doctor first, then shifted rapidly from one passenger to another. Disquiet stirred in the Doctor’s mind when he watched the way her eyes moved. It wasn’t… as much as he hated to think it, it wasn’t human.  

The Doctor shifted closer to her, and suddenly, those pale blue eyes were looking at him again. He tilted his head, and she mirrored him, tilting her head in the opposite direction so they were still eye to eye. In fact, she copied every move he made, refusing to let their eye contact break.

Feeling the tension in the group behind him, the Doctor drew a breath and focused on the woman in front of him. “Sky?”

“Sky?” Her voice sounded… hesitant, untrained, like she didn’t know how to form words and was learning as she went.

“Are you all right?” The Doctor leaned closer, giving her a quick once-over to see if she’d suffered any cuts or bruises.

“Are you all right?” she repeated, sounding a bit more like her old self now.

“Are you hurt?” he elaborated.

“Are you hurt?” Her voice was soft and child-like.

Thinking maybe she had a head injury so severe that she’d forgotten her own vocabulary, he said, “You don’t have to talk.”

“You don’t have to talk.”

“I’m trying to help,” the Doctor explained.  

“I’m trying to help.”

The constant repetition was both putting him on edge and giving him a slight headache, so the Doctor said the one thing he didn’t think she would echo.

“My name’s the Doctor.”

“My name’s the Doctor.”

Doctor!

Rose’s telepathic voice was so loud and shrill that the Doctor took a physical step backward. “Let’s take a break for a moment,” he said for the benefit of everyone in the bus.

“Let’s take a break for a moment,” Mrs. Silvestry repeated.

The Doctor ignored her, focusing on Rose instead. What is it, Rose? He pressed a hand to his temple to massage away the ache.

Sorry. I didn’t mean…

He got the sense that she was running through a corridor, her arms pumping as she raced back to the TARDIS. But her elevated heart rate and respiration was a result of her fear, not her exertion.

I know you didn’t, love, he assured her. Now calm down, and tell me what’s wrong.

There was a brief pause, and when Rose spoke again, she felt noticeably less agitated. Be careful talking to Mrs. Silvestry.

The Doctor glanced at the woman. She hadn’t moved from her seat at the front of the bus. The other passengers were still talking to her, trying to get her to stop copying them. As Sky mimicked them all perfectly, a shiver of unease ran down the Doctor’s back.

Exactly, Rose said. There’s something… I felt another telepath on the planet before, while we were sunbathing. And I felt it again when the pounding on the bus started.

The Doctor thought about Rose’s suggestion as he looked at Sky. So far, everything she’d repeated had been simple words, ones that were already part of her vocabulary and knowledge base. But what would happen…

He stepped back into the group and Sky’s gaze immediately locked onto him. “The square root of pi is 1.772453850905516027298167483341. Wow.”

Sky copied him, just five or six digits behind him the whole time. When she echoed his “wow,” a glint of vicious amusement flickered in her eyes.

The Doctor rocked back on his heels, trying to put some distance between himself and Sky. Even without that fleeting glimpse of an alien personality, he would have known Rose was right. Sky had echoed his words faster than a human mind could have processed and repeated them, which meant there was a telepathic element to what was going on. The only way you could repeat someone so perfectly and so quickly was if you were actually in their head as they spoke.

“But that’s impossible,” Professor Hobbes said, using his favourite word again.  

Dee Dee didn’t argue with him this time, though. “She couldn’t repeat all that.”

The Doctor stared at Sky, wondering if she was still alive in there somewhere, or if the alien had killed her when it had taken her over. “Tell you what,” he said, taking a step back. “I suggest we all stay quiet for a few minutes.” He stepped away from the centre of attention again, until he could discreetly scan the woman with his sonic screwdriver.

Instead of staying quiet, as he’d suggested, the rest of the passengers quickly filled the void his absence created. The Doctor clenched his jaw as he listened to the clamour of voices fill the bus while he finished his scans.  

He’d just slid the sonic into his pocket when the lights on the bus came back. “That’s the back-up system,” Anniqua said—and Sky did not repeat.

Biff let out a loud gust of air. “Well, that’s a bit better,” he said, and it was unclear if he meant the sudden silence, or having the overhead lights back.

“What about the rescue?” Val lowered her torch and took a step towards Anniqua. “How long’s it going to take?”

“About sixty minutes, that’s all.” Anniqua smiled placidly at them as she walked down the aisle.

“Then I suggest we all calm down,” Professor Hobbes said, although his shuddering breaths certain didn’t give the impression of calm. “This panic isn’t helping. That poor woman is evidently in a state of self-induced hysteria. We should leave her alone.”

“Doctor,” Jethro said, and there was another voice there too, quiet and in the background.

The Doctor nodded, staring at Sky with wide eyes. “I know.”

Professor Hobbes frowned at him. “Doctor, now step back. I think you should leave her… alone…”

Only he wasn’t speaking alone. Sky was talking with him, in perfect time.

She was no longer copying. Now she was speaking in unison with every voice on the bus.

[sorrelchestnut]

EVERYBODY’S PICKIN’ UP ON THAT FELINE BEAT, PART 34

I was poking at this today with the intention of maybe getting another scene or two done and belatedly realized that I’d actually written more and, apparently, forgotten about it.  Whoops?

Part 1.  Part 2.  Part 3.  Part 4.  Part 5.  Part 6.  Part 7.  Part 8.  Part 9.  Part 10.  Part 11. Part 12.  Part 13.  Part 14.  Part 15.  Part 16.  Part 17.  Part 18.  Part 19. Part 20.  Part 21.  Part 22. Part 23. Part 24. Part 25. Part 26.  Part 27. Part 28. Part 29. Part 30. Part 31. Part 32. Part 33.

Title: everybody’s picking up on that feline beat Author: Sorrel Fandom: Fallout 4 Rating: Mature Warnings: None Relationships: Deacon/Female Sole Survivor Series: Part 3 of everybody wants to be a cat

     After all that prep, Deacon’s prepared for a lot of things.  For coursers to spot their hiding spot, for the ghouls not to chase Cait and the other runner, for the ghouls to catch the runners, for the coursers to stay put instead of moving out to deal with the ghouls, for there to be a boatload of extra security inside, for the coursers to come back before they’re done…  Deacon’s a worst-case-scenario kinda guy, and something this ballsy is bound to leave a lot of holes.  Whisper’s plan is solid, but Deacon’s got contingencies on contingencies, a whole laundry list of if-then statements to make sure that whatever else might go wrong, at least he and Whisper will make it out with their skins intact.

  He wasn’t prepared for everything to go according to plan.

  “This is spooky,” he murmurs, shifting the chemist’s weight more squarely over his shoulders.  The chemist makes a faintly protesting noise, then falls silent again, as Hancock’s ‘State House Special’ works its magic.  “This feels way too easy.  Don’t you think that was too easy?”

  “Shut your pie hole,” Whisper hisses back.  She leans around the corner, glances down at her Pip-boy for life signs readings, and then jerks her chin, indicating that he should move forward.  “Are you trying to jinx us?”

  “Aww, Whisper, don’t tell me you’re superstitious?”

  “Don’t tell me you’re not.”

  He feels her presence behind him as much as hears it; she’s moving with her usual quiet grace, though it’s probably wasted by the way he’s blundering forward.  Deacon prides himself on keeping in shape about as well as the next forty-mumble guy with an active lifestyle, but hauling a dead weight around the Commonwealth streets is taking its toll.  The chemist was semi-conscious enough to stumble out with them, if not enough to figure out why he was being hauled out at all due speed by complete strangers, but eventually their knockout shot worked just a little too well.  Deacon gave up and started carrying him almost two blocks back.

  “We’re almost there,” Whisper says, trying to sound encouraging and mostly just sounding frustrated.  She’s not any happier about their slow pace than he is, but she needs her hands free to shoot in case someone catches up with them, so it’s not like she can do anything to help.  “Just another block.”

  “Sure thing, partner.”  Maybe he should have brought a cart.

  The blocky outline of the Plaza is a welcome sight, and Deacon picks up speed, gaze fixed the small square of lamplight spilling out of the front door.  Twenty more feet and then he can-

  The sound a magazine racking into place breaks through his exhausted trance.  “That’s close enough,” comes Hancock’s raspy voice.  “I don’t give a fuck what scam you’re running, you can just turn your happy asses back around and go back the way you came.”

  “Hancock, you dipshit, it’s us,” Whisper says, pushing past him until the light falls over her painted face.  “See?”

  Hancock squints at them, then lowers his shotgun, his mouth falling open in surprise.  “Liv?  ‘zat you?”

  “Questions later, move,” she says, with that very special Obedience or Death tone that Desdemona only wishes she could mimic, and Hancock complies almost instinctively, falling back and leaving the doorway blessedly clear.  Deacon staggers through and spills his burden gratefully to the floor inside, leaning over and bracing himself on his thighs to pant.

  “Fuck me, that guy could stand to lose a few pounds.”

  Hancock ignores him, peering uncomfortably close to his face until Deacon almost topples trying to lean over.  Undeterred, he only circles around to give Whisper the same treatment, only backing up when she bats irritatedly at his face.

  “Shit,” Hancock breathes.  “Damned if those scars don’t look real as hell.  How’d you pull this off?  Honest to god, I thought you were a raider, almost fuckin’ shot you til you said something.”

  Deacon recovers his breath enough enough to straighten, holding his hand out to Whisper.  Not looking over, she pulls a sack of caps out of her pocket and slaps it into his palm, scowling.

  “Told you,” he says.  “I’m just that good.”

  Her bitter look says she’s going to make him pay for that bit of smugness later.  “You just lost me ten caps,” she grumbles at Hancock.  “Aren’t ghouls supposed to have great night vision?”

  “Not with all that shit all over your face,” Hancock grumbles right back.  “What were you doing bettin’ on me in the first place?”

  Whisper shrugs and leans down to grab the chemist’s arm.  “Gotta make our fun somehow.  C’mon, help me get this guy upstairs.  He’s not going to be unconscious forever.”

~*~

  The stairs seem a lot less daunting with ghoul’s strength on their side, and Deacon happily falls back and lets Hancock and Whisper handle the transit while he detours into the side room to get the extra equipment.  When he catches up to them in their makeshift interrogation room, Hancock’s holding the guy upright while Whisper arranges him properly on the chair, glancing interrogatively over her shoulder at Deacon when she hears his footsteps in the doorway.

  He tosses her the cuffs, and she snaps them into place, followed by the wide leather straps at the shins and torso that will actually hold the guy into place.  At her nod, Hancock takes hold of his shoulders and tugs him hard from side to side, testing.  The chair doesn’t so much as twitch, the bolts securing it to the floor holding fast.

  “Don’t think he’s goin’ anywhere,” Hancock grunts, after a moment, and lets go.  The chemist sags in his bonds, and Hancock steps back, brushing his hands together to dust them off.  “You sure you don’t want me to stick around?  What if those coursers track you down?”

  “Then here is the last place you should be,” Deacon says, gently but firmly, before Whisper can answer.  "Right now, we’ve got no reason to think they’re moving on Goodneighbor just yet, but that could change if the Institute figures out you were part of this little operation.”

  Hancock glances at Whisper, who nods.  “You’ve got a responsibility to your people first,” she says.  “You already went above and beyond on this, okay?  We couldn’t have done it without you.”

  Not exactly true; they’ve hit harder targets, though usually with a bit more time to prepare.  Still, Deacon’s never made a habit of getting in Whisper’s way when she’s working her magic, and the soft, pleased look on Hancock’s face says it’s working just fine.

  “Yeah, well, can’t say it wasn’t fun,” Hancock says, only a little gruffly.  “It was one hell of a last time, Liv.”

  Whisper’s face softens.  “Guess it was,” she says, and exchanges a quick look with Deacon, strangely hesitant.  He nods toward the door, and she smiles, straightening out of her crouch and threading her arm through Hancock’s elbow.  “C’mon.  I’ll walk you out.”

  Deacon doesn't let himself listen in to the fading blur of their voices as they retreat down the hall; he's had enough of eavesdropping for one day, thanks, and this time, at least, he's pretty sure Whisper would expect him to listen in.  He's already seen the most interesting parts of her and Hancock, and besides—it's not the things she wants him to hear that he needs to figure out.  It's all the rest.

  Getting the cuffs wired up takes all of his attention, anyway.  Whatever the fuck Hancock put in the knockout juice worked a treat, but the guy's gotta come around at some point, and it'd sort of defeat the purpose if they didn't have everything up and running first.  Deacon's not what you'd call a mechanical genius, but he's used them before, even back with Tinker's earliest iterations, which had a nasty habit of shocking the shit out of you if you let touched the wrong ends.  Carrington's tweaks have made them considerably more user-friendly (and idiot-proof, as the good doctor complained more than once, after some of the more… spectacular of the early failures) but usually Deacon's wiring the damn things to, y'know, an actual terminal.  Not a Pip-Boy.  Which is not meant to be wired to anything but a friggin' vault door.  Not the most compatible input ever.

  He's almost done when the first groans of returning conscious sound from the chair behind him.  He eyes the unfinished connection, curses under his breath, and shoves the last cable into the converter with more speed than caution.  Slaps the power button, and prays.

  There's an ominous pause, and then the Pip-Boy screen flashes a familiar cheerful startup sequence.  Deacon lets out a slow breath that turns into a choked laugh as a moment later, a tiny green caveman chases a tiny green astronaut across the screen.

  So the Doc's got a sense of humor after all, Deacon thinks.  And here I thought he'd had it surgically removed sometime back in the seventies.

  "Unnh."  The moan comes from the chair behind him.  "Whuh- where am I?"

  Showtime, Deacon thinks, and rolls to his feet.

  "Hey-hey, you're awake."  They hadn't really run their play in advance—when do they ever?—but the jittery spill of words comes to his tongue as easy as breathing.  Whisper’s better at quiet intimidation, when it comes to that.  Deacon’s at his best when you give him a chance to ramble.  "He-ey-ey, little man, how you feelin'?  That night-night juice hit you pretty hard, yeah?"

  "The- wha?"

  “The night-night juice, little man, the rockout knockout.  Y’know, the good stuff.”  He circles the chair, too fast for the chemist to catch a look at his face, and goes to the other corner of the room.  It forces the chemist to twist around if he wants to keep an eye on him, which he does, letting him feel his bonds for the first time.  When Deacon comes back with a chair of his own, his eyes are wide with the hazy beginnings of panic.

  “What- what’s going on?”

  Deacon slaps the chair down in front of him and straddles it backwards, heels bouncing with an overflow of energy that translates into the tapping of his fingers, the slight twitch in his cheeks and the fast, too-frequent blink.  Jet jitters, which is something no pampered Institute scientist should recognize.  But this guy, Deacon can see it in his eyes.  This guy recognizes it just fine.

  And it’s not just the jitters that the chemist is seeing, but Deacon’s face, clearly in his line of sight for the first time.  The lazy smears of grease paint, the reddened eyes, the needle-marked cheeks: all the things that mark him a raider, and maybe it wouldn’t take a waster to recognize him as a danger, but only a waster would react with such visceral fear.  Only a waster would know, as this guy clearly knows, just how truly and deeply screwed he actually is.  Institute agents are more arrogant than that; they’d look around at the blood-spattered walls, the meat hooks with their grisly prizes dangling from the ceilings, and they’d look at Deacon’s jet-addled face and think, they’re only savages, I can manage this.  It’s the Institute way.  They can’t quite seem to help themselves.

  But it seems like they’re not actually dealing with an Institute agent, or at least not a homegrown one.  No, this boy’s a local.  Which means that a) Whisper owes him another ten caps, and b) they’ve got an in.

  “See, it goes down like-”  Deacon mimes a diving bird with his hands, and the chemist’s eyes follow it helplessly before snapping back to his face.  “Little birdie says, new player in town, right?  And Boss is all like, naw, man, no way, nobody’d push in on our turf, right-right?  Only birdie says yeah, new player, sellin’ big.  And Boss, Boss is tops, yeah, Boss don’t take that from nobody, and Boss figures, better find out who, yeah?  Have a little talk.  Maybe the new guy don’t know how business is run, right-right?  Nice thing to do, explaining.  Good neighbors.”

  Deacon pauses expectantly, grinning at his own joke, and the chemist nods back, a little frantic, trying to hide it.  Deacon rewards him with a bigger grin, the better to show the blackened teeth and greying gums.  It’d taken him twenty minutes just to do the mouth, earlier; it’d be a shame not to show it off.

  “So when outside guards went chasing ghouls, Boss-”  This time his gesture is more like a darting fish, all smooth and graceful.  “Only nobody figured on chrome dome types, yeah?  So Boss got to thinking, maybe we need to talk about something else, yeah?  Maybe we talk about why chrome domes are in our town.  Not good neighbours.”  Deacon sits back in his chair and spread his hands in a shrug.  “So.  Here you are.”

  The chemist swallows hard.  “Y-yeah.  Here I am.”

  Deacon gives him an empty smile.  “So.  We gonna talk?  You gonna tell us what we need?”

  The chemist shifts, not like he’s testing his bonds, exactly, more like he’s reminding himself they’re there.  “I’ll, uh.  I’ll certainly try.”

  “Well now, friend, that’s mighty appreciated.”  Whisper’s lazy drawl comes from the doorway, and the chemist flinches at her soundless approach, his eyes rolling wildly in her direction.  The way his chair is angled, he can’t really see more than her basic outline, but Whisper obligingly closes in, lounging hipshot against counter a few feet to Deacon’s left and giving the chemist a clear view of her face.  From the way he goes pale, it’s not the most reassuring sight.

  Deacon two, civvies zero.  Am I good, or am I good?

  Deacon lets real happiness leak into his grin when he twists around to look up at her, knowing that it just looks macabre from underneath all the grease paint.  "Hey-hey, boss lady."  He lets his eyes trawl up and down her frame, obvious enough even the chemist will notice, and has to suppress a very timing-inappropriate giggle when he notices that her lazily-slicked up raider's mohawk is starting to list sideways a little.  She doesn't have a lot of extra hair to hold, but the grease they had on hand isn't doing so hot in the late September heat.  "This is Boss," he explains needlessly to the chemist, with the cheerful, earnest tones of a child.  "Boss is tops."

  "Well, I try."  Whisper has to shift to be able to fold her arms over her chest—the only coat she managed to scrounge up quite in her size had some fairly substantial armor pieces pre-attached, as it were, and he knows it's fucking up her sense of balance—but she manages to make the gesture look graceful, purposeful.  All of the spiky bits sticking off of her probably don't hurt, either.  "What's our new friend here think, huh?  Does he think I'm the tops?"

  The chemist looks, for a moment, so completely out to sea that Deacon almost starts laughing and ruins the entire thing.  "Uhm-"

  "She's just joshin' ya, man," Deacon tells him.  "Boss is like that.  Boss likes her jokes."

  Whisper smiles thinly at the chemist, when his nervous glance darts to her.  "I'm a funny gal," Whisper says, her voice as flat and cold as death itself.  The chemist's breath starts coming in faster.  "You can ask anyone."

  Deacon watches the wavering green line on Whisper's Pip-boy stutter and blink before settling into something like steady, and smiles inwardly to himself.  They've taken him all the way from unconscious to near full-blown panic, which means that they've got their baseline.  Now the real fun can start.

  He lets one hand drop to his knee and starts drumming his fingers.  "Ask him, Boss," Deacon says.  "Ask him about the tin men."

  "Yeah, that is a good question."  Whisper cocks her head.  "We thought you all were just some kinda small-time joint, trying to muscle in on our territory.  Your product was good, so we figured we'd take you if we could, make you cook for us instead.  Only your men weren't Gunners, or mercs, or good old-fashioned bully boys like my man, here."  (Deacon grins obligingly.)  "You were there with a bunch of synths, and that makes you Institute."

  "No!" the chemist blurts.  "No, I'd never-  They came to me.  I didn't have any choice."

  "They do that," Whisper nods.  There's sympathy on her pretty face, under the heavy black of the grease paint.  It almost looks grotesque.  "Almost left you there—not lookin' to tangle with no tin men—but we need a good cook.  Last one liked his own product too much."

  The chemist straightens slightly in his bonds, his chin going up a little.  "Yeah?" he says, and Deacon can see it, then- the tiniest shadow of calculation.  Not Institute arrogance, if he had to guess, but something not far off.  Something that says, I'm smarter than they are, and they need me, like they've given him some kind of opening and now the situation's his to manage.  "You're in luck, then.  I'm the best damned chemist in the Commonwealth."

  And that's how they got you, Deacon thinks, only a little sadly.  He can't blame the man for it.  Everyone's got their soft spots, their buttons to push and levers to pull, if you know where to look.  He's seen dozens of men just like this guy fall because they're just smart enough to be useful without enough savvy to know when they're outmatched, and the Institute takes them, and uses them, and then throws them away, and they never figure out where the hell they went wrong.

  "Only one problem, though."  Whisper picks idly at one thumbnail.  "How do I know this isn't some trick?  You hear it all the time, people workin' with the Institute.  I let you out of that chair, maybe you just bide your time, call the chrome domes down on us while we're sleepin'."

  "No!  No, I wouldn't.  I never want to see those things again.  I'd do anything."

  Honest, Deacon thinks.  Probably a little more honest than the guy really meant to be, judging by the way he reels himself back as soon as the words are out of his mouth.  He flattens his palm against his thigh, letting his gaze slide ways towards Whisper.  Bring it home, partner.

  "Anything, huh?"  She uncrosses her arms, leans forward with her palms braced on her knees.  "Gotta admit, I like the sound of that."

  "Yeah?" the chemist says, shaky underneath his best attempt at bravado, and for the first time, Deacon realizes that he's younger than they thought.  Not much older than Deacon was when he fell in with the Railroad, probably.  "I mean- yeah.  Of course you do.  I'm the best you're going to get."

  "That's as may be, kid," and Deacon knows Whisper saw the same thing he did, from the way her voice gets a little rougher.  Fighting the surge of sympathy.  "But I gotta know for sure that this was a rescue job, not a, whaddaya call 'em, Trogan things."

  "Trojan Horse?"

  "Yeah, sure," and she shrugs away the correction.  "I need to be sure, you get me?  I take care of my people."

  The chemist tries out a smile.  "Good thing, if I'm going to be one of them."

  "Which means," Whisper continues, as if he hadn't spoken, "that you're gonna tell me how you got stuck with those chrome domes.  Every damn thing, and if I think you're leaving anything out-"  She leaves the threat unfinished, and the chemist goes pale again, some of his cockiness leaking away.

  "I won't," he promises, and then he swallows hard and looks back to her.  "What do you want to know?"

[beetleboard29-blog]

MLBits: Seattle’s Record Start, Improving Pitch-Framing, Yankees and Keuchel, More

I’ve never really been a big reader and that’s especially true now that audiobooks are so ubiquitous. If there’s a must-read book that I somehow find the time/energy for … I’m gonna listen to it. But I also don’t love that quality about me.

Don’t get me wrong, audiobooks are fantastic and will always have a place in my life (I’m currently listening to “The Way of Kings,” which is really great), but I want to be a card-carrying member of the book-readers club. And considering my current, confirmed collection of actually-read books consists almost entirely of properties that’ve been turned into movie franchises and TV series (Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, The Da Vinci Code, etc.) I just don’t don’t feel like I’ve earned it.

So on Monday, I went to the Chicago Public Library, got myself my (literal) first ever library card and checked-out “Catch-22.” I’m five chapters in and I really like it. [Brett: OMG MICHAEL YES! Catch-22 is so freaking good.] Of course, reading that book has come at the expense of listening to that Way of Kings book I love, which is a bit of a … dilemma.

Here’s some news from around the league …

Over the offseason, the Mariners traded away a number of good players like closer Edwin Diaz (1.96 ERA, 3.5 WAR), shortstop Jean Segura (111 wRC+, 3.8 WAR in 2018), and second baseman Robinson Cano (136 wRC+, 2.9 WAR), among others, in an apparent rebuild. But they sure don’t look like a rebuilding team. Through their first 14 games, the Mariners have won 12 times, including two five-game winning streaks. Even cooler, they’ve tied the MLB record with 14-straight games with a home run to open the season, and they did it in dramatic fashion late last night:

That’s Mitch Haniger hitting a go-ahead, ninth-inning home run, his third of the season, to tie the record and give the Mariners a win, all in one swing.

Bonus Mariners tidbit: old friend Dan Vogelbach is hitting .423/.529/1.154 right now with a 327 wRC+. FIVE of those Mariners homers are his.

I have a couple more active records for you, too. Royals outfielder Whit Merrifield has extended his hitting streak to 31 (!) games, dating back to last season, which breaks the Royals record previously set by Hall-of-Famer George Brett. He’s got quite a ways to go until he reaches the magical #56, but who wouldn’t love to see that? This is the longest streak since 2011, when Dan Uggla reached 33 consecutive games with a hit.

Poor Chris Davis, who’s the current all-time leader for consecutive at-bats without a hit, wasn’t forced to start last night, but did get a chance to pinch-hit … and flew out to center. To be fair, he did hit it 102 MPH and 371 feet. That’s a home run sometimes. That’s the kind of luck he’s having.

Khris Davis (of the A’s) is probably like “Dude … you’re ruining our brand.”

Speaking of somewhat surprising starts, the Yankees are 5-7 and learned on Tuesday that they’d be without recently-extended ace Luis Severino until at least the All-Star break (strained lat). But according to sources close to SNY, that doesn’t mean they’re going to go after free agent starter Dallas Keuchel – unless his price drops further. What do you think? Do you buy it? Or is that an obvious leverage grab from a team with all the money in the world and a sudden, glaring need that can be filled perfectly by the market. Hmm…

Did you know Edwin Jackson posted a 3.33 ERA over 92.0 IP last season? I think the Cubs should take a flyer on … just kidding. But it does sound like the 35-year-old Jackson is nearing an agreement on a Minor League deal with the A’s. Good for him. If that guy is anything, he’s a survivor.

Don’t hold your prospects down, I guess:

The counter argument, of course, is that whomever they were replacing could’ve also done reasonably well in a small sample and even if they didn’t the amount ANY player can affect such a tiny collection of games versus another, even replacement-level player is minimal. But also, who cares. Just bring ’em up. Baseball loves young players right now, let’s see them.

After a somewhat promising start in the framing department, Willson Contreras (who has otherwise been absolutely fantastic) is already the second-to-worse qualified catcher by his framing score in baseball. But that’s a little misleading. As of today, he’s only slightly below neutral behind the plate, which would actually mark an insane and wonderful improvement. It is possible.

Take Robinson Chirinos, for example, who was the second-worst pitch framer in baseball, behind only Willson Contreras, last season. The Astros placed a heavy focus on receiving over the offseason, and the early results this year have been fantastic (he’s been exactly neutral behind the plate). Obviously, like with Contreras, the sample is small, but that’s a very good start and seems to suggest that a catcher can, indeed, improve in this area over the course of a single offseason. Let’s hope that rings true for the Cubs.

These two pitches look freaking identical for so long, and then go in completely different directions. How do you deal with this:

Source: https://www.bleachernation.com/2019/04/11/mlbits-seattles-record-start-improving-pitch-framing-yankees-and-keuchel-more/